[531] He here alludes to the turkey buzzards, or gallinazos, obscene vultures, which act as scavengers in the streets of Lima and other coast towns, but are unknown in the mountains. The Quichua word for them is suyuntuy. Aura is the word used in Mexico.
[532] The ancient Peruvian silversmiths knew how to melt the metal, to cast it in moulds, to solder it, and to hammer it. For melting they used small ovens, with tubes of copper through which the air passed. The moulds were made of a clay mixed with gypsum, and the moulded figures were finished off with a chisel. They hammered out figures on the sides of open vases with wonderful skill, and soldered the parts with great art, after burnishing so that the points of junction can scarcely be discerned. They supplied the place of gilding by fastening very thin leaves of gold or silver to copper, timber, and even stone. They also extracted fine threads from the precious metal, and wove them into cloths. Unfortunately, all their best works were either destroyed by the covetous Spaniards, or concealed by the Indians themselves at the time of the conquest. Zarate mentions four llamas and ten statues of women, of the natural size, of the finest gold, as having been found at Xauxa; and all the ancient writers agree in their accounts of the vast number and great merit of the gold and silver ornaments of the Yncas.
The ancient pottery of Peru is very remarkable. The Indians imitated every quadruped, bird, fish, shell, plant, fruit, besides heads of men and women. All these varied forms were moulded in clay, and the vessels thus made were used as sacred urns to be buried with the dead, or for sacrificial purposes. Those for domestic uses were more simple. The material made use of was coloured clay and blackish earth, and the vessels do not appear to have been burnt, but dried in the sun. Many of these vessels are double, others quadruple, and even octuple, the principal vessel being surrounded by smaller appendages, which communicate with each other and with the principal vessel. When the double ones were filled with water, the air escaped through the opening left for that purpose, and produced sounds, which imitated the voice of the animal represented by the principal vessel. Thus, in a vessel representing a cat, when water is poured in, a sound like mewing is produced, and another gives out a sound like the whistling of a bird, the form of which is moulded on the handle. See some very interesting remarks on ancient Peruvian pottery, in Professor Wilson’s work. Prehistoric Man, i, p. 110.
[533] Small beads. See note at page [176].
[534] The Peruvians wove cotton and woollen cloths with great skill, and there are a great number of words connected with weaving in the Quichua language, such as ahuana (loom), ahuay (woof), comana (a wooden batten used in weaving), etc. They also knew the secret of fixing the dyes of all colours—flesh colour, yellow, gray, blue, green, black—so firmly that they never fade after the lapse of ages, and all their dyes were extracted from vegetables. They ornamented their textures by sewing leaves of gold or silver, mother-of-pearl, and feathers on them; and they also made fringes, laces, and tassels of wool and cotton, to adorn carpets and tapestries.
[535] The people included within the empire of Yncas are comprised by D’Orbigny in his Ando-Peruvian race, which he divides into three branches, namely the Peruvian, Antisian, and Araucanian. The Peruvian branch is subdivided by him into four nations, namely the Quichua, Aymara, Atacama, and Chango. This Peruvian branch is characterised by a rich brown olive colour, middling height (1 mètre 597 millimètres), massive form, trunk very long in comparison with the whole height, forehead receding, face large and oval, nose long, very aquiline, and full at the base, mouth large, eyes horizontal, cornea yellowish, ball not jutting out: character serious, thoughtful, and sad. The height of the pure Quichua Indians varies from 4 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 3 inches. Their shoulders are very broad, and square; breast excessively voluminous, and longer than ordinary, so as to increase the length of the trunk. The arms and feet are always small. The head is oblong, forehead slightly receding, but the cranium is nevertheless voluminous, and indicates a well developed brain. The face is generally large, and nearer a circle than an oval. The nose is long and very aquiline, nostrils large and open. The lips are thick and the mouth large, but the teeth are always good. The chin is short but not receding. The cheeks are somewhat high. The eyes are always horizontal, the cornea yellowish, the eyebrows much arched, and the hair black, long, and very straight. They have no beard beyond a few straggling hairs, appearing late in life.
Such were the main characteristics of nearly all the tribes which formed the empire of the Yncas. These tribes were, as mentioned by Cieza de Leon, the Quichuas, Collas or Aymaras, Canas and Canches, Chancas, Huancas, Yuncas, Antis, Chachapuyas, and Cañaris. It is generally found that a vast number of languages exist in a mountainous country, and the Caucasus offers a striking example of this rule; to which the Andes was no exception, for Cieza de Leon assures us that nearly every village originally had a language of its own. But the dominant tribe of the Quichuas, with its civilised rule and astute policy, had gradually superseded all the other dialects by their own language—the richest and most copious to be found in the whole American group of tongues. Thus at the time of the conquest the Quichua was alone spoken throughout the empire of the Yncas, and we now have but few scattered remnants of any other language on the plateaux of the Andes, except the Aymara. The vocabulary of a Chinchay-suyu dialect, spoken in the north of Peru, as given by Torres Rubio, differs little, if at all, from the Quichua, and the same remark applies to the Quito dialect. I am of opinion that the whole of the ancient tribes mentioned above, were essentially members of one and the same race.
D’Orbigny says of the Quichua or Ynca Indians that their character is gentle, hospitable, and obedient. They are good fathers, good husbands, sociable or rather gregarious, always living together in villages, taciturn, patient, and industrious. (L’Homme Américain, i, p. 255). I have myself seen much of these interesting people, and have found them to be intelligent, patient, obedient, loving amongst each other, and particularly kind to animals. They are brave and enduring. I was in the dense untrodden forests with four of these Indians for many days, and they proved to be willing, hard working, intelligent, good humoured, efficient, and companionable. Of the higher qualities of this race, their copious language; plaintive songs; superb works of art in gold, silver, stone, and clay; beautiful fabrics; stupendous architecture; enlightened laws; and marvellous civilisation in the days of the Yncas; are sufficient proof.
[536] See p. 82.
[537] The family of Quiñones is still the principal one in Azangaro; and the enlightened and liberal Don Luis Quiñones, late a member of Congress, was my host during my stay in that interesting town.