“The Greeks,” says Strabo, (lib. v. p. 235, Casaub,) “in building their cities sought to produce a happy result by aiming at the union of beauty and solidity; but, on the other hand, the Romans directed particular attention to objects which the Greeks neglected; paving the streets with stone, building aqueducts to provide a plentiful supply of water, and constructing drainage for carrying all the uncleanliness of the city into the Tiber. They likewise paved all the roads in the country, so that the merchandize brought by trading vessels might be conveniently transported from place to place.”
[118]. p. 397—“Nemterequeteba, the messenger of God.”
Civilization in Mexico (the Aztec country of Anahuac), and in that country which, in the Peruvian theocracy, was called the Empire of the Sun, has so rivetted the attention of Europe, that a third point of dawning civilization, the mountainous regions of New Granada, was long totally lost sight of. I have already treated this subject in some detail.[[RW]] The government of the Muyscas of New Granada bore some resemblance to the constitution of Japan: the temporal ruler corresponded with the Cubo or Seogun at Jeddo, and the spiritual ruler was like the sacred Daïri at Meaco. The table-land of Bogota was called by the natives of the country Bacata, i. e., the utmost limit of the cultivated plains considered with reference to the mountain wall. When Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada advanced thither he found the country ruled by three powers, whose relative subordination one to another is not now clearly understood. The spiritual chief was the electoral high priest of Iraca or Sogamoso (Sugamuxi, the place at which Nemterequeteba is said to have disappeared), the temporal princes were the Zake (Zaque of Hunsa or Tunja), and the Zipa of Funza. The last-named prince seems to have been, in the feudal constitution, originally subordinate to the Zake.
The Muyscas had a regular system of computing time, with intercalation for the amendment of the lunar year. For money they made use of small circular gold plates, cast, and all equal in diameter, (a circumstance worthy of remark, as traces of coinage even among the ancient and highly civilized Egyptians have hitherto been sought in vain). Their temples of the Sun were built with stone columns, some vestiges of which have recently been discovered in Leiva.[[RX]] The race of the Muyscas should properly be distinguished by the denomination Chibchas; for Muysca, in the Chibcha language, merely signifies men or people. The origin and the elements of civilization, introduced among the Muyscas, were attributed to two mythical beings, Bochica and Nemterequeteba, who are frequently confounded one with another. Bochica was the most mythical of the two; having been in some degree regarded as divine and even equal to the Sun. His fair companion Chia or Huythaca occasioned, through her magical art, the submersion of the beautiful valley of Bogota, and for that reason she was banished from the earth by Bochica, and made to revolve round it as the moon. Bochica struck the rocks of Tequendama, and thereby opened a passage through which the waters flowed off in the neighbourhood of the Giants’ Field (Campo de Gigantes), where, at the elevation of 8792 feet above the level of the sea, the bones of elephant-like Mastodons have been discovered. It is stated by Captain Cochrane,[[RY]] and by Mr. John Ranking,[[RZ]] that animals like the Mastodon still live in the Andes, and that they cast their teeth. Nemterequeteba, surnamed Chinzapogua, (el enviado de Dios, the envoy of God,) was regarded as a human being. He is represented as a bearded man, who came from the East, from Pasca, and who disappeared at Sogamoso. The foundation of the sanctuary of Iraca is sometimes ascribed to Nemterequeteba and sometimes to Bochica. The latter, it would appear, also bore the name of Nemterequeteba, and, therefore, that the one should have been confounded with the other, on such unhistoric ground, is a circumstance easily accounted for.
My old friend Colonel Acosta, in his admirable work entitled Compendio de la Historia de la Nueva Granada, endeavours to show, through the evidence of the Quichua language, that New Granada is the native land of the potato plant. In the Compendio (p. 185), he observes, “that as the potato (Solanum tuberosum) is known in Usmè by the indigenous name Yomi, and not by the Peruvian name, and as it was found by Quesada, cultivated in the province of Velez in 1537, a period when its introduction from Chile, Peru, and Quito must have been improbable, the plant may be regarded as indigenous to New Granada.” It must, however, be borne in mind that the Peruvians had invaded Quito, and made themselves completely masters of it before 1525, in which year the death of the Inca Huayna Capac occurred. Indeed, the southern provinces of Quito fell under the dominion of Tupac Inca Yupanqui at the close of the fifteenth century.[[SA]] The history of the first introduction of the potato into Europe is, unfortunately, involved in much obscurity, but the merit of the introduction is still very generally supposed to be due to Sir John Hawkins, who is said to have brought the plant from Santa Fé in the year 1563 or 1565. But a fact, which appears to be better authenticated, is, that the first potatoes grown in Europe were those planted by Sir Walter Raleigh on his estate at Youghal in Ireland, from whence they were conveyed to Lancashire. The Banana-tree (Musa), which, since the arrival of the Spaniards, has been cultivated in all the warmer parts of New Granada, is believed, by Colonel Acosta (p. 205), to have been known only in Choco before the Conquista. The name Cundinamarca, which by affected erudition was applied to the young republic of New Granada in the year 1811, a name suggestive of golden dreams (sueños dorados), would properly be Cundirumarca, not Cunturmarca.[[SB]] Luis Daza, who accompanied the small invading army commanded by the Conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar, who advanced from the south, mentions having heard of a distant country, rich in gold, and inhabited by the race of the Chicas. This country, Daza states, was called Cundirumarea, and its prince solicited auxiliary troops from Atahuallpa in Caxamarca. The Chichas have been confounded with the Chibchas or Muyscas of New Granada; and by a similar mistake the name of the unknown more southerly region has been transferred to this country.
[119]. p. 400—“Fall of the Rio de Chamaya.”
See my Recueil des Observ. Astron., vol. i. p. 304; Nivellement Barométrique, No. 236–242. I made a drawing of the swimming courier, representing him in the act of winding round his head the handkerchief containing the letters. See Vues des Cordillères, pi. xxxi.
[120]. p. 401—“A point of some importance to the geography of South America, on account of an old observation of La Condamine.”
My object was to connect chronometrically, Tomependa, (the starting-point of La Condamine’s journey) and other places on the Amazon river, geographically determined by him, with the town of Quito. La Condamine was in Tomependa in June, 1743; consequently, 59 years before I visited that place, which I found, after astronomical observations made during three consecutive nights, to be situated in south lat. 5° 31′ 28″, and west long. 78° 34′ 55″). By my observations, and a laborious recalculation of all those previously made, Oltmanns has shewn that until the time of my return to France the longitude of Quito had been erroneously determined, and that the error made a difference of full 50½ arc-minutes.[[SC]] Jupiter’s satellites, lunar distances, and occultations afford a satisfactory accordance, and all the elements of the calculation are before the public. The too easterly longitude which had been determined for Quito was, by La Condamine, carried to Cuenca and the Amazon river. “Je fis,” says La Condamine, “mon premier essai de navigation sur un radeau (balsa) en descendant la rivière de Chinchipe jusqu’à Tomependa. Il fallut me contenter d’en déterminer la latitude et de conclure la longitude par les routes. J’y fis mon testament politique en rédigeant l’extrait de mes observations les plus importantes.”[[SD]]
[121]. p. 403—“At the elevation of nearly 12,800 feet above the sea, we found marine fossils.”