As most of the country of the Peruvian empire lay in the torrid zone and consisted of low coast land, elevated land, and mountainous regions, it would have all ranges of climate, according to elevation, and without any great changes of temperature in any one part. Thus all kinds of agricultural products could be cultivated, such as would be found in tropical and temperate regions. In the warm coast region cotton was grown in great abundance and the banana and the cassava; in the more elevated regions the great staple produced was maize and also manioc, guava, groundnuts, tobacco, beans, gourds, and tomatoes; and in the higher and colder parts were found the potato, quinoa, coca, and maguey.
Fishing was an important industry and on the coast regions it ranked next to agriculture. They had a kind of raft, balsa, made of bundles of reeds or poles fastened together and they used nets, harpoons made of copper or tipped with copper, and hooks of bone or copper. Fowling was carried on by means of nets and quite largely engaged in especially along the coast where there were great numbers of birds. Game was plentiful in the mountainous regions and often great drives were made, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty thousand people took part in one and in which thirty thousand head of game might have been taken. They used dogs in hunting, having had at least two varieties of hunting dogs. Beasts of prey, such as pumas, bears, foxes, and wild-cats were killed. The real purpose of the hunt, though, was to capture the huanaco and vicuña, from which the wool was cut and then the greater part of them, the females and best males, were turned loose to let the wool grow for another year, some being kept for food. Besides these wild animals, they kept great flocks of llamas and alpacas, the alpaca having been raised for its wool and the llama for a beast of burden, for its wool, and also for its flesh for eating.
The Peruvians excelled in the art of weaving. They made cloth, tapestry, gauze, and embroidery. They used cotton and wool for the most part, although there was a thread made from the fiber of the maguey. One of the principal occupations of the women was the preparation of the thread for weaving. In the early times it would seem that the loom was unknown but at the time of the entrance of the Spaniards into the country the work was done by true weaving on the loom. There were a number of designs used, variations showing from one period to another. Various colors were used. The patterns were woven in the material or placed on the cloth in the form of embroidery or painted on the cloth, and sometimes the cloth was ornamented with feathers placed on it in the form of patterns. They also wove a double-faced cloth in which the colors were different on the two sides. Delicate gauzes were made in which designs were embroidered on fine net background.
Pottery was another important industry. There were very many designs and all kinds of utensils and the workmanship was good. Gold was obtained from deposits in streams and silver was mined. These metals were cast, hammered, soldered, and inlaid, as the people were very skillful in working with these metals and did especially fine work. They made vases, bracelets, mirrors, necklaces, and all kinds of delicate ornaments. Copper was greatly used, tin having been mixed with it. They made from this various kinds of implements and tools and weapons. They were quite skillful in wood-carving and inlaying was widely practiced, not only on wood but also on bone and shell and stone. They displayed skill in stone-carving, being able to cut the hardest stones, as emeralds and other precious stones. Their implements were of copper or stone, as iron was not at all in use.
Money was not in use among the Peruvians and so there was required an exchange of products. As the products of the country varied it became necessary that ways should be provided whereby people could have opportunity to exchange what they had for things greatly needed from other people of a different calling. This was done by means of fairs held throughout the empire. In the more populous places they took place three times a month. "These fairs afforded so many holidays for the relaxation of the industrious laborers."[21]
Training of the Inca and the Order of the Huaracu.
"In this military school he was educated with such of the Inca nobles as were nearly of his own age; for the sacred name of Inca—a fruitful source of obscurity in their annals—was applied indifferently to all who descended by the male line from the founder of the monarchy. At the age of sixteen the pupils underwent a public examination, previous to their admission to what may be called the order of chivalry. This examination was conducted by some of the oldest and most illustrious Incas. The candidates were required to show their prowess in the athletic exercises of the warrior; in wrestling and boxing, in running such long courses as fully tried their agility and strength, in severe fast of several days' duration, and in mimic combats, which, although the weapons were blunted, were always attended with wounds, and sometimes with death. During this trial, which lasted thirty days, the royal neophyte fared no better than his comrades, sleeping on the bare ground, going unshod, and wearing a mean attire—a mode of life, it was supposed, which might tend to inspire him with more sympathy with the destitute. With all this show of impartiality, however, it will probably be doing no injustice to the judges to suppose that a politic discretion may have somewhat quickened their perceptions of the real merits of the heir-apparent.
"At the end of the appointed time, the candidates selected as worthy of the honors of their barbaric chivalry were presented to the sovereign, who condescended to take a principal part in the ceremony of the inauguration. He began with a brief discourse, in which, after congratulating the young aspirants on the proficiency they had shown in martial exercises, he reminded them of the responsibilities attached to their birth and station, and, addressing them affectionately as 'children of the Sun,' he exhorted them to imitate their great progenitor in his glorious career of beneficence to mankind. The novices then drew near, and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced their ears with a golden bodkin; and this was suffered to remain there till an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the Spaniards, the name of orejones. This ornament was so massy in the ears of the sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of the Europeans, though, under the magical influence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives.
"When this operation was performed, one of the most venerable of the nobles dressed the feet of the candidates in the sandals worn by the order, which may remind us of the ceremony of buckling on the spurs of the Christian knight. They were then allowed to assume the girdle or sash around the loins, corresponding with the toga virilis of the Romans, and intimating that they had reached the season of manhood. Their heads were adorned with garlands of flowers, which, by their various colors, were emblematic of the clemency and goodness that should grace the character of every true warrior; and the leaves of an evergreen plant were mingled with the flowers, to show that these virtues should endure without end. The prince's head was further ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled fringe, of a yellow color, made of the fine threads of the vicuña wool, which encircled the forehead as the peculiar insignia of the heir-apparent. The great body of the Inca nobility next made their appearance, and, beginning with those nearest of kin, knelt down before the prince and did him homage as successor to the crown. The whole assembly then moved to the great square of the capital, where songs and dances and other public festivities closed the important ceremonial of the huaracu."[22]