[428] The city of Guamanga, now called Ayacucho, is in lat. 12° 59´ S., and long. 73° 59´ W. From the steep mountains which overhang it on the south-west, the city presents to the view a mass of red tiles, with church towers rising here and there, surrounded by gardens of fruit trees, which extend in different directions up the sides of the mountains, while to the north-west is the broad grassy plain called Pampa del Arco, and the view is bounded in that direction by the frowning heights of Condor-canqui, at the feet of which the famous battle of Ayacucho was fought. The streets run at right angles, sloping gradually from north to south, and in the centre is the plaza mayor. On the south side of the plaza are the handsome stone cathedral and the cabildo or court-house. The other three sides are occupied by private houses on handsome arcades, with stone pillars and circular arches. The south part of the town was formerly broken up by a deep ravine, but in 1801 the Spanish intendente, Don Demetrio O’Higgins, spanned it with a number of well built stone bridges. On the west side there is an alameda or avenue of double rows of willow trees, by the side of which a stream of clear water flows down and supplies the city. On either hand the hills rise up abruptly, covered with fruit trees, and hedges of prickly pears. There are more than twenty churches, built of limestone, with well proportioned towers. The climate, as Cieza de Leon says, is delicious, and Ayacucho is one of the pleasantest places in Peru.
[429] In alluding to these ruins, Tschudi and Rivero, in their “Antiguedades Peruanas,” merely refer to the above passage in Cieza de Leon, but do not appear to have identified or examined them.
[430] The country round Guamanga still yields abundant supplies of wheat, and is capable of supporting ten times the present population.
[431] I have been unable to find any other detailed account of the ruins of Vilcas, near Guamanga, where there was evidently a very important station in the time of the Yncas. There is a bare allusion to the above passage of Cieza de Leon in the Antiguedades Peruanas, without a word of further information. I made an endeavour to find the ruins, when I was in this part of the country, but without success. They are mentioned, and nothing more, by Paz Soldan (Geografia del Peru, p. 366); and, indeed, no author tells us so much concerning the once splendid palaces and temples of Vilcas as does Cieza de Leon.
[432] This river is now known as the Pampas. It flows through the very deep valley of Pumacancha, which is covered with dense underwood, and tall stately aloes. The mountains rise up abruptly, in some places quite perpendicularly, on either side. In a place where the river is about twenty paces across, a bridge of sogas, or ropes made of the twisted fibres of the aloe, is stretched from one side to the other. It consists of six sogas, each of about a foot in diameter, set up on either side by a windlass. Across these sogas other smaller ropes are secured, and covered with matting. This rope bridge is considerably lower in the centre than at the two ends, and vibrated to and fro as we passed over it. It has to be renewed several times every year. In Spanish times the Indians of certain villages were excused other service, to repair the bridge. It has been a point of considerable strategical importance, in the frequent intestine wars which Peru has suffered from, as commanding the main road from Cuzco to Lima and the coast. On the side towards Cuzco the valley of Pumacancha is bounded by the mountains of Bombon, up which the road passes through woods of molle, chilca, and other trees, while rugged peaks rise up on either side. One of those glorious views which are seldom equalled out of the Andes, may be enjoyed from the cuesta of Bombon.
[433] Lucanas is one of the provinces of the modern department of Ayacucho.
[434] From the Quichua words anta (copper) and huaylla (pasture), “the copper coloured meadow.”
[435] See ante, note at p. 280.
[436] The original followers and subjects of Manco Ccapac, the first Ynca of Peru, appear to have been called Quichuas, and hence the name of the language. The derivation of the word is doubtful. In Peru the hot tropical valleys are called Yunca, the lofty cold heights Puna, and the intermediate temperate region Quichua. Mossi suggests the following derivation of the word. Quehuani is “to twist” in Quichua, the participle of which is Quehuasca, “twisted;” and Ychu is “straw.” Hence Quehuasca-ychu, “twisted straw,” corrupted into Quichua; from the quantity of straw growing in this temperate region. Thus the Quichuas were the inhabitants of the temperate zone, between the Punas and the Yuncas; and they were the original followers of the first Ynca of Peru. Gramatica de la Lengua General del Peru, con Diccionario, por el R. P. Fray Honorio Mossi (Misionero) Sucre, 1857.
[437] Sonccon is the Quichua word for “heart.”