The productiveness of the soil and the increasing prosperity of the people had, in the course of time, given rise to a governing class of Curacas and nobles, to a caste of Umus and Huaca-camayocs, or priests and diviners, and eventually to a despotic sovereign or Ynca, with a privileged royal family. This upper class had leisure, was exempted from ordinary toil, acquired numerous artificial wants, and therefore gradually developed that higher civilisation in the Quichua nation which eventually enabled it to spread its conquests over an immense region, and to consolidate a great and well organised empire.
The advances in civilisation of this upper class were by no means contemptible. The ruins at Cuzco, and in the neighbourhood, bear witness to their marvellous skill in masonry. Their buildings were massive, indeed Cyclopean, but the huge stones were cut and put in their places with extraordinary accuracy; and, although the general effect is plain and sombre, there was frequently some attempt at ornamentation. Such were the rows of recesses with sides sloping inwards, the cornices, and the occasional serpents and other figures carved in relief on the stones. The roofs, though merely of thatch, were thick and durable, and so artistically finished as to give a very pleasing effect to the buildings.[47]
In the furniture of their dwellings and the clothing of their persons the Ynca nobles had reached a high degree of refinement. Their pottery is especially remarkable, and the Peruvian potter gratified the taste of his employers by moulding vessels into every form in nature, from which he could take a model. Professor Wilson, who has carefully examined several collections of ancient Peruvian pottery, says—“Some of the specimens are purposely grotesque, and by no means devoid of true comic fancy; while, in the greater number, the endless variety of combinations of animate and inanimate forms, ingeniously rendered subservient to the requirements of utility, exhibit fertility of thought in the designer, and a lively perceptive faculty in those for whom he wrought.”[48] Many of these vessels, moulded into forms to represent animals and fruits, were used as conopas or household gods; others were for the service of the temple; others for interment with the malquis or mummies, and others for the use of the Yncas and their nobles. The common people used vessels of simple form. The Yncas also had drinking cups of gold and silver, beaten out very fine, and representing llamas, or human heads. Vessels of copper also, and plates and vases of stone with serpents carved round them in relief, are of frequent occurrence, as well as golden bracelets and breast-plates, and mirrors of silver or polished stone. Their knives and other cutting instruments were of copper, hardened with tin or silica.[49] Their clothing consisted of cloth woven from the wool of the llama, alpaca, and vicuña; the latter as fine as silk and undyed, for its own rich chestnut colour was sufficiently becoming. They had attained to great proficiency in the art of weaving and dyeing. Tasteful designs were woven in the cloth, which was dyed flesh colour, yellow, gray, blue, green, and black; for they knew the art of fixing dyes extracted from vegetable substances, so that the cloth will never fade.[50] They ornamented their robes, tunics, rugs, and blankets with fringes, borders of feathers, and also by sowing on them rows of thin gold and silver plates, sometimes square, at others cut into the shape of leaves and flowers. They also adorned wooden seats and couches, by covering them with these thin plates of gold and silver. The interior of a hall in the palace of an Ynca was thus filled with articles of luxury. The great doors, with the sides gradually approaching, were often ornamented with a cornice, and finished above with a huge stone lintel. The walls of solid masonry, beautifully cut and polished, had small square windows,[51] and deep recesses of the same size, at intervals. The walls were hung with rich vicuña cloth fringed with bezants of gold and silver, or with llama cloth dyed with bright colours, and woven into tasteful patterns. The niches were filled with gold and silver statues, and with vases moulded into the shape of llamas, birds, and fruit. The floors were soft with rich carpets and rugs, and the seats and couches were plated with gold. Numerous small chambers opened on the great halls, and the baths were fitted up with metal spouts in the form of serpents, from which the water flowed into stone basins.[52]
The intellectual advancement of the Quichua people had kept pace with the increase in their material comforts; and their religious belief, their literary culture, their discoveries in the sciences of astronomy and mechanics, and their administrative talent, if not of a very high order, at least prove very clearly that they were not incapable of attaining a respectable rank amongst civilised nations. During the last two centuries of their existence as an independent people, their progress was very rapid.
The religion of the Yncas and their nobles was, as is well known, a worship of the celestial bodies, and especially of the sun; that of the cultivators and shepherds a reverence for every object in nature—for their llamas, for their corn, for their fruits, for hills and streams, and above all for the malquis or mummies of their dead. To all these, sacrifices of the fruits of the earth were made. The more spiritual worship of the men of leisure was combined with complicated ceremonial observances, gorgeous temples, and an influential caste of priests, wise men, and virgins. The worship of the sun, and the great importance attached to its apparent course, as connected with the seasons of sowing and reaping, led to the acquirement of some astronomical knowledge, but there is no evidence that any great progress was made in this direction. The Chibchas of Bogota and the Aztecs of Mexico were in advance of the Quichuas in astronomical science. The Yncas knew the difference between the solar and lunar year, they had introduced intercalary days to reconcile that difference, and they observed the periods of the solstices and equinoxes. They also watched and recorded the courses of some of the stars, and of comets. They had a complete system of numerals, perfectly balanced pairs of scales have been found in Peruvian tombs, and their administrators must have been in the habit of making and recording very complicated revenue accounts. Their year was divided into twelve months, and great periodical festivals celebrated the periods of the solstices and equinoxes.[53] The proficiency of the Quichuas in mechanical science was of a high order, as is attested by their magnificent roads and aqueducts, and by the conveyance of Cyclopean blocks of stone for their buildings.
The language of the Quichuas was carefully cultivated during many centuries by the Haravecs or bards in their love ditties and songs of triumph, and by the Amautas or wise men, whose duty it was to preserve the traditions of the people, and to prepare the rituals for the worship of the Deity; and their literary productions in prose and verse were preserved by means of the quipus. The Quichua was a highly polished language, and the student who may turn his attention to the history of the South American races, will find in this rich and copious tongue many ancient fragments of prose and poetry which will convince him of the civilisation of the ancient Peruvians.[54] It is true that they had not discovered the use of letters, but it must be remembered that they were completely isolated and precluded from exchanging ideas with the other races of mankind. If no communication, direct or indirect, had existed between Phœnicia and the other countries of the old world, how many of them would, by their own unassisted genius, have discovered the use of letters. Would the Tamils and Canarese of India? Would the Malays of the islands? It may well be doubted; and, after all, the quipus, though a clumsy, were not altogether an inefficient substitute.[55]
But it is in their administrative arrangements that the intellectual progress of the Yncas is most strikingly displayed. Theirs was the most enlightened despotism that ever existed. The Ynca claimed to be Yntip-churi or “child of sun,” but his not less glorious title was Huaccha-cuyac or “friend of the poor.” His duty was to superintend the comfort and happiness of the people, and to take care that no family was without a topu or plot of ground sufficient for his maintenance. The net produce of the land was divided into three equal parts, one for the cultivators, the second for religious and charitable purposes, and the third for the Ynca and his government; including the clothing and maintenance of the nobles, and of soldiers, miners, potters, weavers, and other artizans. Curacas or chiefs were placed over the different districts, with subordinate officers under them, and a minute supervision was exercised over all matters connected with revenue and judicial administration. Crime was almost unknown.[56]
Such were the Quichuas, the representative people of the Peruvian Andes. To the eastward of their original territory, in the virgin forests which are traversed by the tributaries of the Amazon, dwelt the Antis and Chunchos, who wandered about in search of food, through the interminable wilderness of matted vegetation. They never seem to have made any progress; what they are now, such they were centuries ago: the nature of the country renders advancement impossible. Moreover they probably belong to the great Tupi-Guarani race of Brazil, and are distinct from the Peruvian tribes. To the south of the Quichuas, on either side of the upper valley of the Vilcamayu, were the wild shepherd tribes called Asancatus, Asillus, Cavinas, Canas, and Canches.[57] But still further south, beyond the Vilcañota range of mountains, there was a great people, almost rivalling the Quichuas, who seem to have made some progress in civilisation, in the face of formidable natural difficulties. These were the Collas or Aymaras.
In the southern part of Peru the Cordillera of the Andes is divided into two chains. That to the eastward, containing the peaks of Illimani and Yllampu, consists of rocks of Silurian formation mixed with granite, and the peaks themselves are said to be fossiliferous to their summits. The other range to the westward is chiefly volcanic, and contains the famous volcano of Misti, and the glorious peaks of Chuquibamba and Chacani. Between these two chains of mountains there are lofty plateaux, never less than twelve thousand feet above the sea, the drainage of which flows into the great lake of Titicaca. Here there are no deep temperate valleys and ravines, nothing but bleak plains covered with coarse tufts of grass, with occasional patches of potatoe, quinoa, and oca. The climate is very severe, and the only trees, which are few and far between, are the stunted crooked queñua (Polylepis villosa) and the dark leaved ccolli (Buddleia coriacea). In some places a low shrubby Baccharis is met with, which serves as fuel. This region, known as the Collao, was inhabited by the Aymara nation.
These Aymaras had to contend against a rigorous climate and an unproductive soil; they had none of the advantages enjoyed by their Quichua neighbours, and had consequently made slower advances in civilisation, but they were apparently an offshoot from the same common stock. The descendants of the Aymaras are shorter and more thick-set than those of the Quichuas, and their features are coarser and less regular. Cieza de Leon says that they flattened their skulls in infancy. They wore woollen cloths and square caps, and the women had hoods like those of a friar.[58] The land was too cold for maize, and the people lived on potatoes and ocas, which they preserved by drying them in the sun and then freezing them, for winter use. In this state they were called chuñus. There were large flocks of llamas and alpacas, and wild vicuñas on the unfrequented heights. The Aymaras lived in stone huts roofed with straw, which were built close together in villages, with the potatoe, oca, and quinoa fields around them.[59] Cieza de Leon states that the Collao was once very populous, and the numerous vestiges of former cultivation up the terraced sides of the mountains, bear witness to the truth of his assertion. The people were ruled by chiefs who were treated with great respect, and carried about in litters.