Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests

by Johann Jakob von Tschudi

The character of the Peruvian Indian is essentially gloomy. It was not always so, if we may give credit to the animated pictures drawn by early travellers in Peru; but three hundred years of oppression and suffering have impressed their melancholy stamp on the feelings and manners of the people. This gloominess is strikingly manifested in their songs, their dances, their dress, and their whole domestic economy. The favorite musical instruments of the Indians are those called the Pututo and the Jaina. The former is a large conch, on which they perform mournful music, as the accompaniment of their funeral dances. In early times this conch was employed in the solemnities of royal interments; now its use is exclusively reserved for the anniversaries held in commemoration of certain events connected with the fallen Inca dynasty. The Jaina appears to be of more modern origin; it is a rude kind of clarionet, made from a reed. Its tone is indescribably melancholy, and it produces an extraordinary impression on the natives. If a group of Indians are rioting and drinking, or engaged in furious conflict with each other, and the sound of the Jaina is suddenly heard, the tumult ceases, as if by a stroke of magic. A dead stillness prevails, and all listen devoutly to the magic tones of the simple reed; tones which frequently draw tears from the eyes of the apathetic Indian.

Their garments are all of dark and sombre hues. Dark blue is a favorite color, and appears to be generally adopted for mourning; for whenever the Indians follow a corpse to the grave, they always wear dark blue ponchos. The dress of the men usually consists of short trowsers, of coarse brown cloth, fastened round the waist by a girdle, and a woollen or cotton shirt. They seldom wear a jacket, the ponchos of Alpaca wool being always the outer garment. On their feet they wear sandals of untanned leather, which merely cover the toes, and are fastened round the ancle.

The dress of the women consists of a loose under garment, without sleeves, and made of coarse blue woollen cloth. It is confined round the waist by a broad girdle, called the huccau. Over the arms are drawn black sleeves, reaching from the wrist to about the middle of the upper arm. A sort of robe or tunic, called the anacu, descends from the shoulders to the knees. It is fastened, not in front, but on one side. This garment is made of a thin sort of woollen stuff. It is always black, being worn in token of mourning for the Incas. On the occasion of certain festivals, the Indian women wear a particolored dress, called a faldillin. This garment frequently exhibits the most glaring contrasts of color, one half being bright red, and the other yellow, in addition to which it is sometimes adorned with flowers of brilliant hues, and tasteless, gold embroidery. A mantilla, consisting of a narrow piece of woollen cloth, passed over the shoulders, and fastened under the chin, either with a long silver pin, or a cactus-thorn, completes the costume. In this mantilla, or in a poncho, mothers are accustomed to wrap their infants, and fastening them to their backs, they carry them about in this manner for a whole day, whilst engaged in their work.

In their domestic relations, the Indians are unsocial and gloomy. Husband, wife, and children live together with but little appearance of affection. The children seem to approach their parents timidly, and whole days sometimes elapse without the interchange of a word of kindness between them. When the Indian is not engaged in out-door work, he sits gloomily in his hut, chewing coca, and brooding silently over his own thoughts. To his friend he is more communicative than to his wife. With the former, he will often discourse, apparently on some secret topic, for the space of half a night; nevertheless, he cannot be accused of treating his wife with any degree of cruelty, or of regarding her merely in the light of his slave, as is customary among many uncivilized races of people.

Besides the official authorities, to which the Government exacts obedience, the Peruvian Indian acknowledges other authorities, whose functions and power are similar to those which existed under the Inca dynasty. In like manner, though they have embraced the Christian faith, yet they obstinately adhere to certain religious ceremonies, which have been transmitted to them by their idolatrous progenitors. Thus their religion is a singular combination of Christian principles and heathenish forms. Hitherto the most patient and intelligent of their religious instructors have failed to outroot this attachment to old forms. The Christian religion has been spread among the Indians by force; and for centuries past, they have regarded the priests only in the light of tyrants, who make religion a cloak for the most scandalous pecuniary extortions, and whose conduct is in direct opposition to the doctrines they profess. If they render to them unconditional obedience, accompanied by a sort of timid reverence, it is to be attributed less to the operation of the Christian principle, than to a lingering attachment to the theocratic government of the Incas, which has impressed the Peruvians with a sacred awe of religion.

The superstition with which the Indians are so deeply imbued is adverse to the inculcation of pure religious faith; it is the more difficult to be eradicated, inasmuch as it has its origin in early tradition, and has in later times been singularly blended with the Catholic form of worship. Of this superstition I may here adduce some examples. As soon as a dying person draws his last breath, the relatives, or persons in attendance, put coca leaves into the mouth of the corpse, and light a wax candle. They then collect together the household goods and clothes of the deceased and wash them in the nearest river. They put on the dead clothes, which are made after the pattern of a monk's habit, and they hang round the neck of the corpse a little bag, containing seeds of coca, maize, barley, quinua, &c., for his plantations in the next world. In the evening ashes are strewed on the floor of the room, and the door is securely fastened. Next morning the ashes are carefully examined to ascertain whether they show any impression of footsteps; and imagination readily traces marks, which are alleged to have been produced by the feet of birds, dogs, cats, oxen, or llamas. The destiny of the dead person is construed by the foot-marks which are supposed to be discernible. The worst marks are those of hens' claws, which are believed to denote that the soul of the deceased is doomed to irrevocable perdition. The marks of the hoofs of llamas are considered favorable, and are believed to indicate that the soul, after a short purgatory, will be transferred to the joys of paradise. The funeral is conducted according to Christian forms, and under the superintendence of a priest. But as soon as the priest takes his departure food is put into the grave along with the dead body, which is interred without a coffin. I have sometimes seen one of the nearest relatives leap into the grave and strike the body with his foot, but the meaning of this strange proceeding I never could clearly understand. Some curious ceremonies are observed on All Souls' Day. In every house in which a member of the family has died in the course of the year, a table is laid out with brandy, coca, tobacco, together with some of the favorite dishes of the deceased person, and the chamber is kept closed the whole day. The family firmly believe that the spirit of their departed relative on that day revisits his earthly abode, and partakes of the repast that is spread out on the table. A widow usually wears mourning for the space of twelve months. In some provinces, on the anniversary of her husband's death, the widow puts on a bridal dress, and over it her ordinary garments. All her relatives visit her in her dwelling, where, to the accompaniment of doleful music, she takes the lead in a funeral dance. As the hour approaches at which the husband died in the previous year, the dancing and the music become more and more mournful; but whenever the hour is past one of the female friends approaches the widow and removes her black mantilla. The other females then strip off the rest of her mourning garments, and adorn her head with flowers. At length she appears in a complete bridal dress. The musicians strike up a lively strain, to which the whole party dance, and the evening is passed in drinking and merry-making.

Among the Peruvian Indians there are marked varieties of form and complexion. These differences are most distinctly observable between the inhabitants of the coast and those of the mountain and forest regions. In general, the Peruvian Indian is of middle height, rather slender, and not very robust. The coast Indians are more plump than the inhabitants of other districts, because they lead a less laborious life, and are less exposed to privations. It is scarcely possible to trace any particular national physiognomy among the Indians. In each province a distinct character is observable in the features of the inhabitants. The varieties of feature are less distinctly marked than the differences of complexion. The peculiar tints of the skin are decidedly defined, and indicate respectively the inhabitants of the three principal regions. The colder the climate, the fairer is the skin. For example, the color of the Puna Indian is a dark red-brown; that of the native of the Sierra is considerably lighter; it is a rusty red, but still darker than that of the coast Indians; and the natives of the forests are yellow, nearly approaching to maize color. These differences are singularly striking, when one has an opportunity of seeing the inhabitants of the different regions in juxtaposition. It is curious that the Cholos of the Puna, when they settle in the forests, become only a very little clearer; and that, on the other hand, the yellow Indians of the Montaña, after being several years in the Puna, still retain their characteristic tint. The women are, on the whole, extremely ugly, with round, inexpressive faces. Their hands and feet are very small.

The Indians are, on the average, remarkable for longevity, though they frequently shorten their lives by the intemperate use of strong drinks. Instances are not rare of Indians living to be 120 or 130 years of age, and retaining full possession of their bodily and mental powers. Stevenson mentions that on examining the church registers of Barranca, he found that within an interval of seven years, eleven Indians had been interred, whose united ages amounted to 1207, being an average of 109 years to each. In the year 1839 there was living in the valley of Jauja an Indian who, according to the baptismal register shown to me by the priest, was born in the year 1697. He himself declared that he had not for the space of ninety years tasted a drop of water, having drunk nothing but chicha. Since he was eleven years of age, he alleged that he had masticated coca, at least three times every day, and that he had eaten animal food only on Sundays; on all the other days of the week he had lived on maize, quinua, and barley. The Indians retain their teeth and hair in extreme old age; and it is remarkable that their hair never becomes white, and very seldom even grey. Those individuals whose advanced ages have been mentioned above, had all fine black hair.

Since the Spanish conquest, the population of Peru has diminished in an almost incredible degree. When we read the accounts given by the old historiographers of the vast armies which the Incas had at their command; when we behold the ruins of the gigantic buildings, and of the numerous towns and villages scattered over Peru, it is difficult to conceive how the land could have been so depopulated in the lapse of three centuries. At the time of the conquest it was easy, in a short space of time, to raise an army of 300,000 men, and, moreover, to form an important reserved force; whilst now, the Government, even with the utmost efforts, can scarcely assemble 10,000 or 12,000 men. According to the census drawn up in 1836, Peru did not contain more than 1,400,000 men, being not quite so many as were contained at an earlier period in the department of Cuzco alone. Unfortunately there is no possibility of obtaining anything approaching to accurate estimates of the population of early periods; and even if such documents existed, it would be difficult to deduce from them a comparison between Peru as it now is, and Peru at the period when Bolivia, a part of Buenos Ayres, and Columbia, belonged to the mighty empire. I will here quote only one example of the immense diminution of the population. Father Melendez mentions that shortly after the conquest, the parish of Ancallama, in the province of Chancay, contained 30,000 Indians fit for service (that is to say, between the ages of eighteen and fifty); now, the same parish contains at most 140 individuals, of whom one-third are Mestizos. The whole coast of Peru, now almost totally depopulated, was once so thickly inhabited, that to subdue King Chimu, in North Peru alone, an army of 80,000 men was requisite. The causes of the diminished Indian population of Peru have been so frequently and fully detailed by previous writers, that I need not here do more than briefly advert to them. They are found in the extensive and reckless massacres committed by the Spaniards during the struggle of the conquest; in the suicides and voluntary deaths resorted to by the natives to escape from the power of their oppressors; in the mita, the small-pox, the scarlet fever, and the introduction of brandy. The mita alone, especially the labor in the mines, has swept away four times as many Indians as all the other causes combined. Since the abolition of the mita, the Indian population has been on the increase, though there has not yet been time for any marked result to become manifest; the more especially, considering the numbers of lives sacrificed during the frequent civil wars. Nevertheless, it is easy to foresee that a decided augmentation of the Indian inhabitants of the western parts of South America will, ere long, be apparent.

Among the aboriginal inhabitants of Peru a variety of languages are in use. In the southern parts of the country, particularly about Cuzco, the Quichua is spoken. It was the dialect of the court, and that which was most generally diffused, and the Spaniards therefore called it la lengua general. In the highlands of Central Peru, the Chinchaysuyo language prevailed. The Indians of the coast, who belonged to the race of the Chunchos, spoke the Yunga. The Kauqui was the language of that part of Central Peru which corresponds with the present province of Yauyos. The inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of Peru, as far as the Huallaga, spoke the Lama language,[103] and the natives of the highland regions of Quito spoke the Quiteña.[104] These different languages, which, with the exception of the Lama, proceed all from one source, differ so considerably, that the inhabitants of the several districts were reciprocally incapable of understanding each other, and the Incas found it necessary to introduce the Quichua among all the nations they subdued. The other dialects were thereby much corrupted, and at the time of the Spanish invasion, they were seldom correctly spoken. This corruption was naturally increased more and more after the arrival of the Spaniards, by the introduction of a new language. Only for a few of the new articles brought by the Spaniards to Peru did the Indians form new names, taking the roots of the words from their own language: for most things they adopted the Spanish names. By this means, but still more by the future intercourse of the people with the invaders, the purity of the natural language rapidly disappeared in proportion to the influence which the Spaniards obtained by their increase in numbers and moral superiority. At present the Quichua is a compound of all the dialects and the Spanish; it is spoken in the greatest purity in the southern provinces, though even there it is much intermixed with Aymara words. In Central Peru the Chinchaysuyo prevails, and on the coast the Spanish and the Yunga. The present Indians and people of mixed blood, who of necessity must speak the ever-changing Quichua, and also the Spanish, speak both in so corrupt a manner, that it is frequently almost impossible to understand them.