[406] The climate of Huanuco is delightful. The thermometer seldom rises above 72° in the shade, nor sinks below 66°, and no place in the world equals it as a retreat for patients suffering from diseases of the lungs—but it is terribly inaccessible. The plain still, as in the days of Cieza de Leon, yields wheat and maize, bananas, figs, coffee, cotton, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, citrons, and limes. Smith’s Peru As It Is.
[407] The ruins of the Huanuco palace or temple are chiefly interesting from the six portals, one within the other, which are well preserved. There is also a species of look out, which was probably the place where the priests offered their sacrifices to the sun. The architecture of these ruins is very distinct from that of other Ynca edifices, and would appear to be of earlier date. The Indians know these ruins by the name of Auqui Huanuco. The look out is 56 paces long by 36 in width, the height of the wall five yards, and inclined inwards from the base. It rests upon two courses of round stone, about five feet high. The walls are of cut stone and terminate in a cornice, the stones being 4½ feet long and 1½ feet thick. The interior is composed of gravel and clay, and in the centre there is a large cavity, which is said to communicate with the palace by a subterranean passage. The look out is approached by a steep ramp or inclined plane, and two figures of animals are carved on either side of the entrance.
The palace is entered by six portals. On entering the first there are halls, 100 yards long by 14 wide, on either side. The walls are built of round stones mixed with clay, the doorways alone having cut stone. These doorways are 9 feet high and 4½ broad, the lintels being of a single stone, 12 feet long and 1½ thick. The jambs are of a single piece. Three yards further on is the second portal, resembling the first, with two figures carved on the upper part. This leads into a spacious court, at the other end of which are two smaller doorways in a line, leading into a smaller court, and finally there are two other portals, still smaller, and of sculptured stone. Beyond the sixth portal there are rooms with stone walls containing niches, and an aqueduct passes through one of these rooms, which is said to have been the bathing place of the Ynca. In front of the building there is a broad artificial terrace, and underneath a large court, with a receptacle for water in the centre.
The stones of which the ruins are composed were taken from a ridge about half a mile distant, and some are yet to be seen, lying cut in the quarry.
[408] In these days a Peruvian Indian answers No! (Manan canchu) to everything that is asked of him. The change is one of the baneful results of three centuries of Spanish domination.
[409] The Yncas restricted all hunting by their subjects, and the number of animals of all descriptions consequently multiplied prodigiously. At a certain season of the year, after breeding time, the Yncas and governors of provinces held a grand hunt, called Chacu in Quichua. As many as thirty thousand Indians were assembled, who surrounded a space of several square leagues, and gradually drove all the animals into the centre, closing upon them until they were so close as to be easily caught by hand. Very often there were as many as forty thousand head of guanacos and vicuñas alone. Most of the female guanacos and vicuñas, and a certain number of males, were then released; but they were shorn of their wool before they were allowed to go free. The rest were killed. The deer were also killed, and the meat was distributed amongst the Indians. An accurate account was kept of the number released, the number killed, and the number shorn, by means of the quipus. The coarse wool of the guanacos was then given to the people, while that of the vicuñas, as fine as silk, was reserved for the Ynca’s service. These hunts were held in each district every four years, giving three years of rest for the animals to multiply. The Indians dried the meat which was served out to them, and this preserved meat, called charqui in Quichua (hence “jerked beef”), lasted them until another hunting year came round. G. de la Vega. Comm. Real, i, lib. vi, cap. 6.
[410] The Peruvian quipus were of twisted wool, and consisted of a large cord, with finer threads fastened to it by knots. These fringes contained the contents of the quipu, which were denoted either by single knots or by artificial intertwinings. Sometimes the main cord was five or six yards long, at others not more than a foot. The different colours of the threads had different meanings; and not only was the colour and mode of intertwining of the knots to be considered, in reading a quipu, but even the mode of twisting the thread, and the distance of knots from each other, and from the main cord. The registers of tribute; the enrolment of tribes, distinguishing between taxpayers, aged, invalids, women, and children; lists of arms and troops; inventories of the contents of storehouses; all these were the primary uses of the quipus. But they were also made available for recording the most striking events, and thus supplied the place of chronicles. Acosta says that the ancient Peruvians, by their combinations of larger and smaller threads; double and single knots; green, blue, white, black, and red colours; could express meanings and ideas as innumerable, as we can by the different combinations of our twenty-four letters.
All attempts, in modern times, to decipher the quipus found in tombs, have failed; yet there are Indians of noble family, especially in the southern part of Peru, who know the secret of deciphering these intricate memorials, but guard it as a sacred trust transmitted from their ancestors. The quipu records referring to matters of revenue or registration were kept by officers called Quipu-camayoc; while the chronicles of events were recorded by the Amautas or learned men, and the poems and songs by Haravecs or bards. Garcilasso de la Vega distinctly states that the sole specimen of Quichua poesy preserved in his work, was obtained from an ancient quipu record by the missionary Blas Valera. See G. de la Vega, i, lib. vi, cap. 8. Acosta, lib. vi, cap. 8. Antiguedades Peruanas, cap. 5. Markham’s Quichua Dictionary, etc., p. 11.
[411] The name of Francisco de Chaves deserves honourable mention, as that of one of the few Spaniards who protested against the foul and dastardly murder of the Ynca Atahualpa by Pizarro, at Caxamarca. He and his brother Diego, natives of Truxillo, Francisco Moscoso, Pedro de Ayala, Diego de Mora, Hernando de Haro, Pedro de Mendoza, Juan de Herrada, Alonzo de Avila, and Blas de Atienza were the principal officers who raised their voices against that horrible crime. Their names deserve to be remembered far more than do those of the famous thirteen who crossed the line drawn by Pizarro on the sea-shore of the isle of Gallo.
On the march from Caxamarca to Cuzco, Pizarro’s small force was attacked by the Indians led by the Ynca general Quizquiz, and, after a long and well contested battle, the Indians retired, taking several Spanish prisoners with them, among whom was Francisco de Chaves. He was brought before Atahualpa’s brother, the Ynca Titu Atauchi, and was treated with great kindness because he had protested against the perpetration of the murder; while another prisoner named Cuellar, who had acted as notary and been present at the Ynca’s execution, was himself most justly put to death by the Indians. Chaves was cured of his wounds, and set free with many gifts. Pizarro and his other comrades were astonished when he arrived at Cuzco, having mourned him as dead, since the day that he fell into the hands of the Indians.