VI
So great was the empire of the Incas. But from whom were these remarkable rulers descended who brought their people to a state of civilization relatively so superior to that of the savages east of the Andes? To what race did they belong? From whence did they originally come—Europe or Asia?—and, if so, how did they get to South America? How did they acquire the knowledge of the arts and sciences that they possessed? “Students of archæology have essayed in vain to answer these questions,” says Mozans. “All is still shrouded in mystery—in mystery even darker than that which veils the advent of the Toltecs and Aztecs to the valley of Anahuac, more profound than that which obscures the first beginnings of the civilizations on the elevated Pamirs and in the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates. In all this uncertainty and mystery, however,” he adds,
“One fact seems to remain incontrovertible, and that is that Manco Capac and Mama Oello” (the founders of the dynasty) “first appeared on the shores of Lake Titicaca” (a body of water nearly as large as Lake Erie, lying between the two main Cordillera of the Andes in southeastern Peru, two miles and a half up above the level of the sea). “On this point tradition and the concurrent testimony of the earlier historians are practically at one.... Another fact, too, is unquestioned. Whether Manco Capac, the Minos of Peru, was of foreign or of native birth, it is certain that he was able, in the space of thirty years, to lay the foundation of that vast empire which, under the Inca Yupanqui, extended its conquests to the Maule in Chile, and, under Huayna Capac, planted its victorious banners above the fortresses of the Shiri” (the Cacique of the Caras), “in the extended territory of Quito, and which gave its laws and religion and language to hundreds of conquered tribes.”
“What is one to do with no historical records to study over?” asks Hawthorne.
“The Aztecs did have some sort of writing, and, though we have not yet learned how to read it, we may solace ourselves with the hope that enlightenment may sometime come; but the people of the Andes did not even use hieroglyphics. Their sole documents were knotted strings. These strings, which they called quipus, were of course merely aids to memory—in the same way that a knot in a handkerchief enables a husband to remember the instructions his wife gives him when he sets out for the city, and which could not be written down in many pages.... Nevertheless, we have traditions in plenty.... Starting with the reasonable assumption that there must have been a very considerable past before the Spaniards appeared, we may construct various more or less plausible surmises, based on the Cyclopean architectural ruins which are distributed about the country. Marvelous works they are, though their form, and the carvings with which they are decorated, are less impressive than their mere size and weight.... It has been very generally thought that they were the handiwork of the prehistoric Piruas; yet, since the Piruas are prehistoric, it is not to be expected that much historic information concerning them is obtainable.... The ruins had been abandoned long before the Spaniards came and the Indians knew nothing of their origin.”
“Still, it is indisputable,” he goes on to say,
“that in Peru the grade of culture found in Mexico at the time of the conquest must have been reached and passed many ages earlier. In proof of this we have the fact that the Peruvians alone had succeeded in domesticating animals. Only the dog had been adapted to man’s service in other parts of America. Here the domestic llama, for instance, was derived from the wild huanacu and the alpaca from the vicuna. Many centuries would be required in order to bring about these results. Several varieties of maize were also produced under cultivation, and the Peruvian species of cotton plant is known to exist only as it appears under cultivation. Wild tubers were found in Peru from which the potato was educed. Now, it has been proven by experiment that wild potatoes require a very long time to put on a civilized complexion. It was in Peru that the potato, as we know it, was first discovered. It was not cultivated north of Darien. Raleigh brought the first specimens to Ireland in 1568, but it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that they came into general use in Europe. The Peruvians practiced irrigation and manured their crops with guano.”
And he continues:
“The materials for this nation were provided by the four tribes—Incas, Quichuas, Canas, and Cauchis—scattered over the northwest of South America. They were all mountaineers, short but strong and active, with soft, brown skins, black hair, and arched noses. At first the tribes were composed of clans, but the Incas settled in the lofty valley of Cuzco and from that coign of vantage gradually subdued the other tribes. Unlike the Aztecs, they confirmed their conquests, not by exacting tribute, but by military occupation of the subject territory. The town of Cuzco was built about the end of the twelfth century and the work of internal organization was begun. It is at this point that solid historical information first comes to hand. A succession of head chiefs or kings had already been instituted. These monarchs were called Incas par excellence—the Inca of all minor Incas. To this general name, nicknames were added, by way of distinguishing them. Finally, the eighth of the line was called Viracocha, which means Sun-God, and indicated that by that epoch the Incas had acquired something of the divinity that doth hedge a king.
“Viracocha annexed the land of the Aymaras” (in Bolivia), “who are suspected of descent from the builders of Tiahuanucu” (where are some of the most interesting of the ruins). “In the next reign the strong tribe of the Chancas, living close to the equator, resisted the march of conquest, but were finally defeated under the walls of Cuzco and their country afterward annexed. The Chimus, who gave its name to Chimborazo, were the next victims of the Incas, who now ruled the region from Lake Titicaca to the equator and from the Andes to the sea. It was under the Inca Yupanqui that this conquest took place, and he is regarded as the great hero of Peruvian history. To him was applied the name Pachacutec, Changer of the World. The successor of this champion extended the dominion of his people so much farther that it became necessary to found the city of Quito to keep watch over the northern portion of the empire. He brought in the valley of Pachacamac, where there was an ancient and desirable temple, and also penetrated far into Chile....
“The Inca language was spoken throughout the empire. Garrisons were distributed at strategic points and were connected by the famous roads which have been the wonder and admiration of the world.... There was a central highway from Quito to Cuzco, and thence southward, which is thus described by the historian Cieza” (de Leon): “‘I believe that since the history of man has been recorded there has been no account of such grandeur as is to be seen on this road, which passes over deep valleys and lofty mountains, by snowy heights, over falls of water, through the living rocks and along the edges of furious torrents. In all these places it is level and paved, along mountain slopes well excavated, through the living rock cut, along the river banks supported by walls, in the snowy heights with steps and resting places, in all parts clean-swept, clear of stones, with posts and storehouses and temples of the sun at intervals. Oh, what greater thing could be said of Alexander, or of any of the powerful kings that have ruled in the world, than that they had made such a road as this and conceived the works that were required for it! The roads constructed by the Romans in Spain are not to be compared with it.’ The post houses were some four or five miles apart and in each were two Indians who carried messages to and from the next house in line, whereby the government was kept constantly informed of what was going on in all parts of its dominions. In this way messages could travel at the rate of nearly a hundred and fifty miles a day.”
The Inca deities were the Sun and Moon. The Sun they regarded as God the Father and the Moon (believed to be the Sun-God’s sister and wife) as the Goddess-Mother. The people called themselves Children of the Sun. The reigning Inca was at once the Chief Priest and absolute temporal ruler. Following their conception of the divine relationship, he could marry only his sister of the full blood and only their eldest son could inherit the throne. If no son was born of this first incestuous marriage, or if he died and no other was born, the Inca married the next sister, and so on until there was one capable of inheriting. But there were morganatic marriages, as a result of which each of the reigning Incas left numerous sons and daughters, whose descendants constituted a privileged class, and in the course of ages the throne came to be surrounded by thousands of men of the royal blood who were devoted from their birth to warfare, learning, and state-craft. A subject, however, could have more than one wife only by favor of the Inca. The government, though exercised in a kindly spirit, as we are told by the ancient chroniclers, was in form a military despotism.
There was no money or other medium of exchange; gold and silver were used only for purposes of adornment; such trade as there was, was by barter. Every man was obliged to work for the common good at some form of industry or occupation suitable to his strength and age and, if able, to take his turn at the maintenance and extension of the irrigation systems, which in that way were brought to such a state of perfection that modern Peru still lives on the half-ruined fragments of their canals and conduits and reservoirs. Hardly a spot of arable soil was left uncultivated. Whole mountains were terraced for thousands of feet up their sides.
Private ownership in land did not exist; it belonged to the communes. The custom was to divide it into tracts, each large enough to support a family, and parcel it out; for every child born there was an additional allotment, and, at intervals, a general revision and redistribution. The produce was divided into three parts: one for the Inca and his establishment, one for the priesthood, and one for the commune. When one section of the country was impoverished by war or some other casualty, its needs were supplied by assessments levied on the others. The occupations of the women, both in town and country, were essentially domestic. Some were brought up from childhood and specially educated to serve in the religious rites and in the household of the reigning Inca. These were known as Virgins of the Sun.
The capital, Cuzco, was located in a valley about two hundred miles northwest of Lake Titicaca and at a lower elevation, yet still more than two miles up above the level of the sea. A colossal, massive-walled citadel loomed over it from the heights of Sacsahuaman above the town. Strong walls and towers inclosed it on every side. In its midst was a great square, from which started the remarkable roads leading to the four corners of the empire, referred to by Hawthorne. One whole side was occupied by the temple, and near by were the dwellings of the priests and the palaces of the Inca and the Virgins of the Sun. This sacred space was a citadel in itself, protected by five heavy walls.
Describing the temple, the historian of the conquest, Garcilaso de la Vega (and there was no one better qualified to write on the subject, for he was himself, on the maternal side, a grandson of one of the last of the Inca kings), says that “All the four walls were covered from roof to floor with plates and slabs of gold. In the side, where we should place the altar, they placed a figure of the Sun, made of a plate of gold of a thickness double that of the other plates which covered the walls. The figure was made with a circular face and rays of fire issuing from it, all of one piece, just as the sun is represented by painters. It was so large as to occupy one side of the temple from one wall to the other.” Even the doorposts were of gold. One door, encased in silver, led to a hall dedicated to the Moon-Goddess, where the images and furnishings were all of silver, as were also the decorations of the mummies of the Incas’ wives.
“The walls of their palaces,” Markham says, “were built of stone, of a dark slate color, with recesses and doors at certain intervals, the sides of the doors approaching each other” (narrowing toward the top) “and supporting huge stone lintels. The side walls were pierced with small square windows, as in the ruins of Manco Capac’s palace, and the roofs were thatched with the ycha, or long grass of the Andes. The interior consisted of several spacious halls, with smaller rooms opening into them, and the interior walls were adorned with golden animals and flowers, executed with much skill and taste. Mirrors of a hard stone, highly polished, hung on stone pegs, while in the numerous recesses were utensils and conopas (household gods) of gold and silver, fantastically designed. The couches were of vicuna cloth of the softest and finest texture.”
Of the palaces of the Incas, Francisco Lopez de Gomara tells us that “all the service of their house, table and kitchen, was of gold and silver, or at least of silver and copper. The Inca had in his chamber hollow statues of gold, which appeared like giants, and others naturally imitated from animals, birds, and trees, from plants produced by the land and from such fish as are yielded by the waters of the kingdom. He also had ropes, baskets and hampers of gold and silver and piles of golden sticks to imitate fuel prepared for burning. In short, there was nothing that his territory produced that he had not got imitated in gold.”
Cieza de Leon says of the magnificence of the harvest festivals celebrated in the great plaza of the temple: “We hold it to be very certain that neither in Jerusalem, nor in Rome, nor in Persia, nor in any other part of the world, was such wealth of gold and silver and precious stones collected together.” In his later years, while living in Spain, Garcilaso de la Vega, who had been just as enthusiastic in his description, and seemed to fear that he might be suspected of romancing, took occasion to write that “this is not hard for those to believe who have since seen so much gold and silver arrive here from that land. In the year 1595 alone, within the space of eight months, thirty-five millions of gold and silver crossed the bar of San Lucar in three cargoes.”
“Many generations of culture and Inca rule had produced men of a very different physical type,” Markham tells us, “from the Peruvian Indian of to-day. We see the Incas in the pictures at the church of Santa Ana at Cuzco,” he continues.
“The color of the skin was many shades lighter than that of the downtrodden descendants of their subjects. The forehead was high, the nose slightly aquiline, the chin and mouth firm, the whole face majestic, refined, and intellectual. The hair was gracefully arranged, and around the head was the llantu, the sign of sovereignty. The llantu appears to have been a short piece of red fringe on the forehead, fastened around the head by two bands. It was habitually worn, but, when praying, the Inca took it off and put it on the ground beside him. The ceremonial headdress was the mascapaycha, a golden semicircular miter on the forehead, to which the llantu was fastened. Bright colored feathers were fixed on the sides and the plume” (of black and white falcon feathers, he says in another place) “rose over the summit. Long golden eardrops came down to the shoulders. The tunic and mantel varied in color and were made of the finest vicuna wool. On the breast the Incas wore a golden semicircular breastplate, representing the sun, with a border of signs for the months.
“The later Incas wore a very rich kind of brocade, in bands sewn together, forming a wide belt. The bands were in squares, each with an ornament. The material was called tocapu. Some of the Incas had the whole tunic of tocapu. The breeches were black and in loose plaits at the knees. The usutas, or sandals, were of white wool. The Inca clad for war had a large square shield of wood or leather. There was a loop of leather at the back to pass the arm through. In one hand was a wooden staff, about two feet long, with a bronze star, of six or eight points, fastened at one end—a most formidable warclub. In the other hand was a long staff with a battle axe fixed at one end. The Ccoya, or Queen, wore the lliclla or mantle fastened across the chest by a very large golden topu or pin, with head elaborately carved with ornaments and figures. The lliclla or mantle and acsu or skirt varied as regards color. The head was adorned with golden circlets and flowers.... The nobles wore headdresses of egret feathers and gold breastplates over their tunics. The princesses wore long mantles of various colors, and the Virgins of the Sun long white mantles, secured across the bosom by large gold pins.”
INCA BURIAL TOWER NEAR LAKE TITICACA.
CLOISTERS OF DOMINICAN MONASTERY, CUZCO.
Mozans, writing of the spot they held most sacred of all, says:
“It would be difficult to find any place in the world richer in legends and traditions than is Lake Titicaca. Every cove and inlet, every rock and island has its myth, and many of these places were held in special veneration by the Incas for long generations. This was especially true of two islands—Titicaca, sacred to the Sun, and Coati, sacred to the Moon, the Sun’s sister. What a fascination there was about these two islands! Beholding the cradle and sanctuary of Inca civilization, it was easy to fancy oneself a spectator of one of those long processions of reed balsas” (boats) “conveying the children of the Sun from the mainland to the sacred islands of their race, where were the rich temples dedicated to their Sun-Father and Moon-Mother. Adorned with gorgeous trappings of gold and silver—royal colors—the Inca’s barge, manned by stalwart young oarsmen, specially selected for this service, led the way. Immediately following the Sphinxlike Inca came the members of his court arrayed in gaudy vesture. Next to them were the ministers of the temple and the officers of the army, gleaming in barbaric attire. The rear of the procession was made up of the humble tillers of the soil, who had gathered from all parts to greet their idolized ruler and to swell the number of worshipers congregated about the effigies of the Sun and Moon, or in front of the sacred rock decked with richest tissues and plates of burnished silver and gold....
“In these temples and palaces, according to the old chroniclers, were immense treasures, rivaling those in the temples of Cuzco. The riches in the temple of the Sun were especially great, for ‘here,’ writes Garcilaso, ‘all the vassals of the Inca offered up much gold and silver and precious stones every year, as a token of gratitude to the Sun for the two acts of grace that had taken place on that spot. This temple had the same service as that of Cuzco. There was said to be such quantity of gold and silver heaped up in the island, besides what was worked for the use of the temple, that the stories of the Indians concerning it are more wonderful than credible. Father Blas Valera, one of the earliest Spanish chroniclers, says that the Indian colonists, called Mitimaes, who lived in Copocabana, declared that the quantity of gold and silver heaped up as offerings was so great that another temple might have been made of it, from the foundations to the roof, without using any other materials. But as soon as the Indians heard of the invasion of the country by the Spaniards, and that they were seizing all the treasure they could find, they threw the whole of it into the great lake.’”