[29] Off the mouth of the river Lurin, in lat. 12° 26' S. is the island of Pachacamac, probably indicating the situation of the ancient province of that name.--E.
The Indians believe likewise, that even before Con and Pachacamac, there was a great deluge, during which mankind saved themselves in great caves in the high mountains, into which they carried a store of food, shutting up the entries, and carefully filling up all the crevices, to keep out the water. After a long while, they sent out some dogs, who returned to them all wet but not dirtied with mud, from which circumstance they concluded that the waters still remained very high, and they did not venture to leave their caverns till the dogs came back a second time all covered with mud. They allege that great numbers of serpents were engendered by the moisture left in the earth by this deluge, by which their ancestors were much distressed for a long time, till they at length succeeded to extirpate them. From this tradition they appear to have retained some confused notion of the deluge, although they were ignorant of the way in which Noah and seven other persons were saved in the ark to repeople the whole earth. Perhaps their tradition may refer to some partial deluge, like that of Deucalion.
The have a notion that the world is to come to an end; before which there is to be a great drought, when no rain is to fall for several years. On this account, in former times, the caciques used to lay up large magazines of maize to serve them during the long drought. Even yet, the more timid among the Peruvians make a great lamentation when the sun or moon are eclipsed, believing the end of the world to be at hand; as they allege that these luminaries are to be extinguished at the destruction of the world.
The Peruvians worship the Sun and Moon as deities, and swear by these luminaries and by the earth, which they consider as their mother. In their temples they adore certain stones, as representatives of the sun, which they name guacas, a word signifying to weep, which they do on entering into their temples. No person is permitted to approach these guacas except the priests who sacrifice to these idols, who are all clothed in white. When they go up to their idols, they carry certain white cloths in their hands, prostrating themselves and crawling on the earth, and addressing their idols in a language which is not understood by any of the natives. By these priests all the offerings for the idols are received and buried in the temples, as the Indian votaries make gifts of figures in gold or silver of those things for which they address their prayers to the guaca. These priests likewise offer sacrifices of animals and even of men to their gods, searching the hearts and intrails of the victims for certain signs which they wish to find, and repeating their abominable sacrifices until they meet with those signs which they desire; pretending that the idols are not satisfied by the sacrifices till these appear. During all the time that the priests are engaged in sacrificing, they never appear in public, neither have they any intercourse with women, and employ themselves all night in loud cries, invoking the demons near to the places in which the guacas are kept, which are extremely numerous, as most houses have each their own guaca. The priests prepare themselves for having intercourse with the demons by long fasts, after which they tie up their eyes and some even carry their superstition to such excess as to put out their own eyes. The caciques and other great men among the Peruvians never undertake any affair of importance without having first consulted the idols, or demons rather, by means of the priests.
In the temples of the sun the Spaniards found several large earthen jars containing the dried bodies of children which had been sacrificed. Among the figures of gold and silver which were used as ornaments to the guacas, there were several which had a strong resemblance to the mitres and crosiers of our bishops, and some of these idols were found having mitres on their heads. When Thomas de Verlanga, bishop of Tierra Firma travelled through Peru, with his mitre, in which he was seen by the Indians celebrating the mass, they asked if he was the guaca of the Christians. When asked the reason of these mitres, they could only say that they had been handed down from their ancestors. In every part of Peru there were certain houses or monasteries, which were inhabited by women who were consecrated to the sun. These women never went out, but were perpetually employed in spinning cotton and wool, which they wove into cloth, and then burned along with the bones of white sheep, throwing the ashes into the air in honour of the sun. These women were consecrated to perpetual celibacy, and were put to death if found to be with child, unless they could swear that their child was begotten by the sun.
Every year, at the season of the maize harvest, the mountaineer Peruvians had a solemn festival; on which occasion they set up two tall straight trees like masts, on the top of which was placed the figure of a man surrounded by other figures and adorned with flowers. The inhabitants went in procession armed with bows and arrows and regularly marshalled into companies, beating their drums and with great outcries and rejoicings, each company in succession discharging their arrows at the dressed up figure. After which the priests set up an idol at the bottom of the masts, before which they sacrificed a man or a sheep, sprinkling the idol with the blood of the victim; and having inspected the heart and entrails of the sacrifice, they reported the signs they had discovered to the people, who were sad or rejoiced according as these were good or bad. The whole of this festival was usually spent in dancing and drinking, and in various games and sports, some of which were warlike exercises, with maces, clubs, axes and other arms.
All the caciques and other principal inhabitants of Peru are reposited after their death in a kind of vaults, clothed in all their richest dresses, and seated in a kind of chairs which they name duos. It was customary also to bury along with them one or two of their best beloved wives, and on this occasion the honour was frequently contested among the wives of the deceased, unless when the husband had previously settled who were to be chosen to accompany him in the tomb. Two or three youths of their train, and all their gold and silver-plate used also to be buried along with them; all of which was done in the hope of one day rising again from the dead, and that they might then appear in proper style, accompanied by their wives and servants. When the Spaniards broke up these sepulchres on purpose to take possession of their buried treasures, the Peruvians requested of them not to disturb the bones of the dead, that they might not be hindered in their resurrection. In the burial ceremony, the relations of the deceased used to pour some of the liquor formerly mentioned, named Chica, into the grave, of which a portion was conveyed by some hollow canes into the mouth of the dead person. On the top of the tomb or sepulchre, wooden images were placed, representing the appearance of the deceased; but on the graves of the lower orders, they satisfied themselves by some painted emblems of their profession or employment, more especially if they happened to be warriors.
In all the provinces of Peru there were certain nobles or principal persons, of whom the chiefs or rulers were named curacas, similar in every respect to the caciques of the islands. As the Spaniards who conquered Peru had been accustomed to name many things according to the language of Hispaniola and Cuba, and were at first ignorant of the Peruvian language, they continued to employ the terms to which they had been accustomed; and the Peruvians have so far accommodated themselves to this language, especially in speaking to the Spaniards, that they mostly use these terms. Thus they call those chiefs caciques, who in their own language are named curacas, their bread corn and drink, which in the Peruvian are zara and azua, they denominate maize and chica, which names were brought from the islands by the Spaniards. These curacas or caciques were the judges and protectors of their subjects in peace, and their leaders in war against the neighbouring tribes. The whole people of Peru lived in that manner for many years under a multiplicity of independent chiefs, having no king or supreme chief; until at length a warlike nation came from the environs of the great lake Titicaca named the Incas in the language of Peru. These men had their heads close shaven, and their ears pierced, in which they wore large round pendents of gold, by which their ears were dragged down upon their shoulders, in consequence of which they were called ringrim, or the large ears. Their chief was called Zapalla Inca[30], or the only king; though others say that he was named Inca Vira cocha, or the king from the scum of the lake, because the astonished natives, not knowing the origin of their invaders, believed that they had started into existence from the scum or mud of the great lake. This great lake of Titicaca is about eighty leagues in circumference, from which a large river runs to the southwards, which in some places is half a league in breadth, and which discharges its waters into a small lake about forty leagues from the great lake, which has no outlet. This circumstance gives great astonishment to many, who are unable to comprehend how so vast a body of water should disappear in so small a reservoir. As this smaller lake appears to have no bottom, some conceive that it discharges itself into the sea by some subterranean communication, like the river Alphaeus in Greece.
[30] The first of the Incas is named by Robertson, II. 290. and III. 47. Manco Capac.--E.
These Incas established themselves in the first place at Cuzco, from whence they gradually extended their sway over the whole of Peru, which became tributary to them. The empire of the Incas descended in successive order, but not by immediate hereditary rules. On the death of a king, he was succeeded by his immediately younger brother; and on his demise the eldest son of the preceding king was called to the throne; so as always to have on the throne a prince of full age. The royal ornament worn by the supreme Inca in place of a crown or diadem, consisted in a fringe of coloured worsted from one temple to the other, reaching almost to the eyes. He governed their extensive empire with much grandeur and absolute power; and perhaps there never was a country in the world where the subjects were so submissive and obedient. They had only to place a single thread drawn from their diadem in the hands of one of the ringrim or great ears, by which he communicated to this deputy the most absolute delegation of power, which was respected and obeyed over the whole empire. Alone, and without troops or attendants, the message or order which he carried was instantly obeyed, were it even to lay waste a whole province, and to exterminate every one of its inhabitants; as on the sight of this thread from the royal fillet, every one offered themselves voluntarily to death, without a single murmur or the slightest resistance.