History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Introduction. View Of The Civilization Of The Incas.
Author: Prescott, William H.
Part V
Peruvian Sheep. - Great Hunts. - Manufactures. - Mechanical Skill. -
Architecture. - Concluding Reflections.
A nation which had made such progress in agriculture might be reasonably
expected to have made, also, some proficiency in the mechanical arts, -
especially when, as in the case of the Peruvians, their agricultural economy
demanded in itself no inconsiderable degree of mechanical skill. Among most
nations, progress in manufactures has been found to have an intimate
connection with the progress of husbandry. Both arts are directed to the same
great object of supplying the necessaries, the comforts, or, in a more refined
condition of society, the luxuries of life; and when the one is brought to a
perfection that infers a certain advance in civilization, the other must
naturally find a corresponding development under the increasing demands and
capacities of such a state. The subjects of the Incas, in their patient and
tranquil devotion to the more humble occupations of industry which bound them
to their native soil, bore greater resemblance to the Oriental nations, as the
Hindoos and Chinese, than they bore to the members of the great Anglo-Saxon
family, whose hardy temper has driven them to seek their fortunes on the
stormy ocean, and to open a commerce with the most distant regions of the
globe. The Peruvians, though lining a long extent of sea-coast, had no
foreign commerce.
They had peculiar advantages for domestic manufacture in a material
incomparably superior to any thing possessed by the other races of the Western
continent. They found a good substitute for linen in a fabric which, like the
Aztecs, they knew how to weave from the tough thread of the maguey. Cotton
grew luxuriantly on the low, sultry level of the coast, and furnished them
with a clothing suitable to the milder latitudes of the country. But from the
llama and the kindred species of Peruvian sheep they obtained a fleece adapted
to the colder climate of the table-land, "more estimable," to quote the
language of a well-informed writer, "than the down of the Canadian beaver, the
fleece of the brebis des Calmoucks, or of the Syrian goat." ^1
[Footnote 1: Walton, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Peruvian Sheep,
(London, 1811,) p. 115. This writer's comparison is directed to the wool of
the vicuna, the most esteemed of the genus for its fleece.]
Of the four varieties of the Peruvian sheep, the llama, the one most
familiarly known, is the least valuable on account of its wool. It is
chiefly employed as a beast of burden, for which, although it is somewhat
larger than any of the other varieties, its diminutive size and strength
would seem to disqualify it. It carries a load of little more than a hundred
pounds, and cannot travel above three or four leagues in a day. But all this
is compensated by the little care and cost required for its management and
its maintenance. It picks up an easy subsistence from the moss and stunted
herbage that grow scantily along the withered sides and the steeps of the
Cordilleras. The structure of its stomach, like that of the camel, is such
as to enable it to dispense with any supply of water for weeks, nay, months
together. Its spongy hoof, armed with a claw or pointed talon to enable it
to take secure hold on the ice, never requires to be shod; and the load laid
upon its back rests securely in its bed of wool, without the aid of girth or
saddle. The llamas move in troops of five hundred or even a thousand, and
thus, though each individual carries but little, the aggregate is
considerable. The whole caravan travels on at its regular pace, passing the
night in the open air without suffering from the coldest temperature, and
marching in perfect order, and in obedience to the voice of the driver. It
is only when overloaded that the spirited little animal refuses to stir, and
neither blows nor caresses can induce him to rise from the ground. He is as
sturdy in asserting his rights on this occasion, as he is usually docile and
unresisting. ^2
[Footnote 2: Ibid., p. 23, et seq. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib.
8, cap. 16. - Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 41.
Llama, according to Garcilasso de la Vega, is a Peruvian word signifying
"flock." (Ibid., ubi supra.) The natives got no milk from their domesticated
animals; nor was milk used, I believe, by any tribe on the American
continent.]
The employment of domestic animals distinguished the Peruvians from the
other races of the New World. This economy of human labor by the
substitution of the brute is an important element of civilization, inferior
only to what is gained by the substitution of machinery for both. Yet the
ancient Peruvians seem to have made much less account of it than their
Spanish conquerors, and to have valued the llama, in common with the other
animals of that genus, chiefly for its fleece. Immense herds of these "large
cattle," as they were called, and of the "smaller cattle," ^3 or alpacas, were
held by the government, as already noticed, and placed under the direction
of shepherds, who conducted them from one quarter of the country to another,
according to the changes of the season. These migrations were regulated with
all the precision with which the code of the mesta determined the migrations
of the vast merino flocks in Spain; and the Conquerors, when they landed in
Peru, were amazed at finding a race of animals so similar to their own in
properties and habits, and under the control of a system of legislation which
might seem to have been imported from their native land. ^4
[Footnote 3: Ganado maior, ganado menor.]
[Footnote 4: The judicious Ondegardo emphatically recommends the adoption of
many of these regulations by the Spanish government, as peculiarly suited to
the exigencies of the natives. "En esto de los ganados parescio haber hecho
muchas constituciones en diferentes tiempos e algunas tan utiles e
provechosas para su conservacion que conven dria que tambien guardasen
agora." Rel. Seg., Ms.]
But the richest store of wool was obtained, not from these domesticated
animals, but from the two other species, the huanacos and the vicunas, which
roamed in native freedom over the frozen ranges of the Cordilleras; where not
unfrequently they might be seen scaling the snow-covered peaks which no
living thing inhabits save the condor, the huge bird of the Andes, whose
broad pinions bear him up in the atmosphere to the height of more than twenty
thousand feet above the level of the sea. ^5 In these rugged pastures, "the
flock without a fold" finds sufficient sustenance in the ychu, a species of
grass which is found scattered all along the great ridge of the Cordilleras,
from the equator to the southern limits of Patagonia. And as these limits
define the territory traversed by the Peruvian sheep, which rarely, if ever,
venture north of the line, it seems not improbable that this mysterious
little plant is so important to their existence, that the absence of it is
the principal reason why they have not penetrated to the northern latitudes
of Quito and New Granada. ^6
[Footnote 5: Malte-Brun, book 86.]
[Footnote 6: Ychu, called in the Flora Peruana Jarava; Class, Monandria
Digynia. See Walton, p. 17]
But, although thus roaming without a master over the boundless wastes
of the Cordilleras, the Peruvian peasant was never allowed to hunt these wild
animals, which were protected by laws as severe as were the sleek herds that
grazed on the more cultivated slopes of the plateau. The wild game of the
forest and the mountain was as much the property of the government, as if it
had been inclosed within a park, or penned within a fold. ^7 It was only on
stated occasions, at the great hunts, which took place once a year, under the
personal superintendence of the Inca or his principal officers, that the game
was allowed to be taken. These hunts were not repeated in the same quarter
of the country oftener than once in four years, that time might be allowed
for the waste occasioned by them to be replenished. At the appointed time,
all those living in the district and its neighbourhood, to the number, it
might be, of fifty or sixty thousand men, ^8 were distributed round, so as to
form a cordon of immense extent, that should embrace the whole country which
was to be hunted over. The men were armed with long poles and spears, with
which they beat up game of every description lurking in the woods, the
valleys, and the mountains, killing the beasts of prey without mercy, and
driving the others, consisting chiefly of the deer of the country, and the
huanacos and vicunas, towards the centre of the wide-extended circle; until,
as this gradually contracted, the timid inhabitants of the forest were
concentrated on some spacious plain, where the eye of the hunter might range
freely over his victims, who found no place for shelter or escape.
[Footnote 7: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]
[Footnote 8: Sometimes even a hundred thousand mustered, when the Inca hunted
in person, if we may credit Sarmiento. "De donde haviendose ya juntado
cinquenta o sesenta mil Personas o cien mil si mandado les era." Relacion,
Ms., cap. 13.]
The male deer and some of the coarser kind of the Peruvian sheep were
slaughtered; their skins were reserved for the various useful manufactures
to which they are ordinarily applied, and their flesh, cut into thin slices,
was distributed among the people, who converted it into charqui, the dried
meat of the country, which constituted then the sole, as it has since the
principal, animal food of the lower classes of Peru. ^9
[Footnote 9: Ibid., ubi supra.
Charqui; hence, probably, says McCulloh, the term "jerked," applied to
the dried beef of South America. Researches, p. 377.]
But nearly the whole of the sheep, amounting usually to thirty or forty
thousand, or even a larger number, after being carefully sheared, were
suffered to escape and regain their solitary haunts among the mountains. The
wool thus collected was deposited in the royal magazines, whence, in due time,
it was dealt out to the people. The coarser quality was worked up into
garments for their own use, and the finer for the Inca; for none but an Inca
noble could wear the fine fabric of the vicuna. ^10
[Footnote 10: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms. loc. cit. - Cieza de Leon, Cronica,
cap. 81. - Garcilasso, Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 6.]
The Peruvians showed great skill in the manufacture of different articles
for the royal household from this delicate material, which, under the name of
vigonia wool, is now familiar to the looms of Europe. It was wrought into
shawls, robes, and other articles of dress for the monarch, and into carpets,
coverlets, and hangings for the imperial palaces and the temples. The cloth
was finished on both sides alike; ^11 the delicacy of the texture was such as
to give it the lustre of silk; and the brilliancy of the dyes excited the
admiration and the envy of the European artisan. ^12 The Peruvians produced
also an article of great strength and durability by mixing the hair of animals
with wool; and they were expert in the beautiful feather-work, which they held
of less account than the Mexicans from the superior quality of the materials
for other fabrics, which they had at their command. ^13
[Footnote 11: Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 41.]
[Footnote 12: "Ropas finisimas para los Reyes, que lo eran tanto que parecian
de sarga de seda y con colores tan perfectos quanto se puede afirmar."
Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 13]
[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.
"Ropa finissima para los senores Ingas de lana de las Vicunias. Y cierto
fue tan prima esta ropa, como auran visto en Espana: por alguna que alla fue
luego que se gano este reyno. Los vestidos destos Ingas eran camisetas desta
opa: vnas pobladas de argenteria de oro, otras de esmeraldas y piedras
preciosas: y algunas de plumas de aues: otras de solamente la manta. Para
hazer estas ropas, tuuiero y tienen tan perfetas colores de carmesi, azul,
amarillo, negro, y de otras suertes: que verdaderamente tienen ventaja a las
de Espana." Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 114.]
The natives showed a skill in other mechanical arts similar to that
displayed by their manufacturers of cloth. Every man in Peru was expected to
be acquainted with the various handicrafts essential to domestic comfort. No
long apprenticeship was required for this, where the wants were so few as
among the simple peasantry of the Incas. But, if this were all, it would
imply but a very moderate advancement in the arts. There were certain
individuals, however, carefully trained to those occupations which minister to
the demands of the more opulent classes of society. These occupations, like
every other calling and office in Peru, always descended from father to son.
^14 The division of castes, in this particular, was as precise as that which
existed in Egypt or Hindostan. If this arrangement be unfavorable to
originality, or to the development of the peculiar talent of the individual,
it at least conduces to an easy and finished execution by familiarizing the
artist with the practice of his art from childhood. ^15
[Footnote 14: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim. et Seg., Mss. - Garcillaso, Com. Real.,
Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 7, 9, 13.]
[Footnote 15: At least, such was the opinion of the Egyptians, who referred to
this arrangement of castes as the source of their own peculiar dexterity in
the arts. See Diodorus Sic., lib. 1, sec. 74.]
The royal magazines and the huacas or tombs of the Incas have been found
to contain many specimens of curious and elaborate workmanship. Among these
are vases of gold and silver, bracelets, collars, and other ornaments for the
person; utensils of every description, some of fine clay, and many more of
copper; mirrors of a hard, polished stone, or burnished silver, with a great
variety of other articles made frequently on a whimsical pattern, evincing
quite as much ingenuity as taste or inventive talent. ^16 The character of the
Peruvian mind led to imitation, in fact, rather than invention, to delicacy
and minuteness of finish, rather than to boldness or beauty of design.
[Footnote 16: Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq.,
Ms. - Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 114. - Condamine, Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad.
Royale de Berlin, tom. II. p. 454-456.
The last writer says, that a large collection of massive gold ornaments
of very rich workmanship was long preserved in the royal treasury of Quito.
But on his going there to examine them, he learned that they had just been
melted down into ingots to send to Carthagena, then besieged by the English!
The art of war can flourish only at the expense of all the other arts.]
That they should have accomplished these difficult works with such tools
as they possessed, is truly wonderful. It was comparatively easy to cast and
even to sculpture metallic substances, both of which they did with consummate
skill. But that they should have shown the like facility in cutting the
hardest substances, as emeralds and other precious stones, is not so easy to
explain. Emeralds they obtained in considerable quantity from the barren
district of Atacames, and this inflexible material seems to have been almost
as ductile in the hands of the Peruvian artist as if it had been made of clay.
^17 Yet the natives were unacquainted with the use of iron, though the soil
was largely impregnated with it. ^18 The tools used were of stone, or more
frequently of copper. But the material on which they relied for the execution
of their most difficult tasks was formed by combining a very small portion of
tin with copper. ^19 This composition gave a hardness to the metal which seems
to have been little inferior to that of steel. With the aid of it, not only
did the Peruvian artisan hew into shape porphyry and granite, but by his
patient industry accomplished works which the European would not have ventured
to undertake. Among the remains of the monuments of Cannar may be seen
movable rings in the muzzles of animals, all nicely sculptured of one entire
block of granite. ^20 It is worthy of remark, that the Egyptians, the
Mexicans, and the Peruvians, in their progress towards civilization, should
never have detected the use of iron, which lay around them in abundance; and
that they should each, without any knowledge of the other, have found a
substitute for it in such a curious composition of metals as gave to their
tools almost the temper of steel; ^21 a secret that has been lost - or, to
speak more correctly, has never been discovered - by the civilized European.
[Footnote 17: They had turquoises, also, and might have had pearls, but for
the tenderness of the Incas, who were unwilling to risk the lives of their
people in this perilous fishery! At least, so we are assured by Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 23.]
[Footnote 18: "No tenian herramientas de hierro in azero." Ondegardo, Rel.
Seg., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 4.]
[Footnote 19: M. de Humboldt brought with him back to Europe one of these
metallic tools, a chisel, found in a silver mine opened by the Incas not far
from Cuzco. On an analysis, it was found to contain 0.94 of copper, and 0.06
of tin. See Vues des Cordilleres, p. 117.]
[Footnote 20: "Quoiqu'il en soit," says M. de la Condamine, "nous avons vu en
quelques autres ruines des ornemens du meme granit, qui representoient des
mufles d'animaux, dont les narines percees portoient des anneaux mobiles de la
meme pierre." Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de Berlin, tom. II. p. 452.]
[Footnote 21: See the History of the Conquest of Mexico, Book 1, chap. 5.]
I have already spoken of the large quantity of gold and silver wrought
into various articles of elegance and utility for the Incas; though the amount
was inconsiderable, in comparison with what could have been afforded by the
mineral riches of the land, and with what has since been obtained by the more
sagacious and unscrupulous cupidity of the white man. Gold was gathered by
the Incas from the deposits of the streams. They extracted the ore also in
considerable quantities from the valley of Curimayo, northeast of Caxamarca,
as well as from other places; and the silver mines of Porco, in particular,
yielded them considerable returns. Yet they did not attempt to penetrate into
the bowels of the earth by sinking a shaft, but simply excavated a cavern in
the steep sides of the mountain, or, at most, opened a horizontal vein of
moderate depth. They were equally deficient in the knowledge of the best
means of detaching the precious metal from the dross with which it was united,
and had no idea of the virtues of quicksilver, - a mineral not rare in Peru, -
as an amalgam to effect this decomposition. ^22 Their method of smelting the
ore was by means of furnaces built in elevated and exposed situations, where
they might be fanned by the strong breezes of the mountains. The subjects of
the Incas, in short, with all their patient perseverance, did little more than
penetrate below the crust, the outer rind, as it were, formed over those
golden caverns which lie hidden in the dark depths of the Andes. Yet what
they gleaned from the surface was more than adequate for all their demands.
For they were not a commercial people, and had no knowledge of money. ^23 In
this they differed from the ancient Mexicans, who had an established currency
of a determinate value. In one respect, however, they were superior to their
American rivals, since they made use of weights to determine the quantity of
their commodities, a thing wholly unknown to the Aztecs. This fact is
ascertained by the discovery of silver balances, adjusted with perfect
accuracy, in some of the tombs of the Incas. ^24
[Footnote 22: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 25.]
[Footnote 23: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 7; lib. 6, cap. 8. - Ondegardo,
Rel. Seg., Ms.
This, which Bonaparte thought so incredible of the little island of Loo
Choo, was still more extraordinary in a great and flourishing empire like
Peru; - the country, too, which contained within its bowels the treasures that
were one day to furnish Europe with the basis of its vast metallic currency.]
[Footnote 24: Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21.]
But the surest test of the civilization of a people - at least, as sure
as any - afforded by mechanical art is to be found in their architecture,
which presents so noble a field for the display of the grand and the
beautiful, and which, at the same time, is so intimately connected with the
essential comforts of life. There is no object on which the resources of the
wealthy are more freely lavished, or which calls out more effectually the
inventive talent of the artist. The painter and the sculptor may display
their individual genius in creations of surpassing excellence, but it is the
great monuments of architectural taste and magnificence that are stamped in a
peculiar manner by the genius of the nation. The Greek, the Egyptian, the
Saracen, the Gothic, - what a key do their respective styles afford to the
character and condition of the people! The monuments of China, of Hindostan,
and of Central America are all indicative of an immature period, in which the
imagination has not been disciplined by study, and which, therefore, in its
best results, betrays only the ill-regulated aspirations after the beautiful,
that belong to a semi-civilized people.
The Peruvian architecture, bearing also the general characteristics of an
imperfect state of refinement, had still its peculiar character; and so
uniform was that character, that the edifices throughout the country seem to
have been all cast in the same mould. ^25 They were usually built of porphyry
or granite; not unfrequently of brick. This, which was formed into blocks or
squares of much larger dimensions than our brick, was made of a tenacious
earth mixed up with reeds or tough grass, and acquired a degree of hardness
with age that made it insensible alike to the storms and the more trying sun
of the tropics. ^26 The walls were of great thickness, but low, seldom
reaching to more than twelve or fourteen feet in height. It is rare to meet
with accounts of a building that rose to a second story. ^27
[Footnote 25: It is the observation of Humboldt. "Il est impossible
d'examiner attentivement un seul edifice du temps des Incas, sans reconnoitre
le meme type dans tous les autres qui couvrent le dos des Andes, sur une
longueur de plus de quatre cent cinquante lieues, depuis mille jusqu'a quatre
mille metres d'elevation au-dessus du niveau de l'Ocean. On dirait qu'un seul
architecte a construit ce grand nombre de monumens." Vues des Cordilleres, p.
197.]
[Footnote 26: Ulloa, who carefully examined these bricks, suggests that there
must have been some secret in their composition, - so superior in many
respects to our own manufacture, - now lost. Not. Amer., ent. 20.]
[Footnote 27: Ibid., ubi supra.]
The apartments had no communication with one another, but usually opened
into a court; and, as they were unprovided with windows, or apertures that
served for them, the only light from without must have been admitted by the
doorways. These were made with the sides approaching each other towards the
top, so that the lintel was considerably narrower than the threshold, a
peculiarity, also, in Egyptian architecture. The roofs have for the most part
disappeared with time. Some few survive in the less ambitious edifices, of a
singular bell-shape, and made of a composition of earth and pebbles. They are
supposed, however, to have been generally formed of more perishable materials,
of wood or straw. It is certain that some of the most considerable
stone-buildings were thatched with straw. Many seem to have been constructed
without the aid of cement; and writers have contended that the Peruvians were
unacquainted with the use of mortar, or cement of any kind. ^28 But a close,
tenacious mould, mixed with lime, may be discovered filling up the interstices
of the granite in some buildings; and in others, where the well-fitted blocks
leave no room for this coarser material, the eye of the antiquary has detected
a fine bituminous glue, as hard as the rock itself. ^29
[Footnote 28: Among others, see Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15. - Robertson, History
of America, (London, 1796,) vol. III. p. 213.]
[Footnote 29: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21.
Humboldt, who analyzed the cement of the ancient structures at Cannar,
says that it is a true mortar, formed of a mixture of pebbles and a clayey
marl. (Vues des Cordilleres, p. 116.) Father Velasco is in raptures with an
"almost imperceptible kind of cement" made of lime and a bituminous substance
resembling glue, which incorporated with the stones so as to hold them firmly
together like one solid mass, yet left nothing visible to the eye of the
common observer. This glutinous composition, mixed with pebbles, made a sort
of Macadamized road much used by the Incas, as hard and almost as smooth as
marble. Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 126-128.]
The greatest simplicity is observed in the construction of the
buildings, which are usually free from outward ornament; though in some the
huge stones are shaped into a convex form with great regularity, and adjusted
with such nice precision to one another, that it would be impossible, but for
the flutings, to determine the line of junction. In others, the stone is
rough, as it was taken from the quarry, in the most irregular forms, with the
edges nicely wrought and fitted to each other. There is no appearance of
columns or of arches; though there is some contradiction as to the latter
point. But it is not to be doubted, that, although they may have made some
approach to this mode of construction by the greater or less inclination of
the walls, the Peruvian architects were wholly unacquainted with the true
principle of the circular arch reposing on its key-stone. ^30
[Footnote 30: Condamine, Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de Berlin, tom. II.
p. 448. - Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec.
5, lib 4, cap. 4. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 14. - Ulloa, Voyage to S. America,
vol. I. p 469. - Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]
The architecture of the Incas is characterized, says an eminent
traveller, "by simplicity, symmetry and solidity." ^31 It may seem
unphilosophical to condemn the peculiar fashion of a nation as indicating
want of taste, because its standard of taste differs from our own. Yet there
is an incongruity in the composition of the Peruvian buildings which argues
a very imperfect acquaintance with the first principles of architecture.
While they put together their bulky masses of porphyry and granite with the
nicest art, they were incapable of mortising their timbers, and, in their
ignorance of iron, knew no better way of holding the beams together than
tying them with thongs of maguey. In the same incongruous spirit, the
building that was thatched with straw, and unilluminated by a window, was
glowing with tapestries of gold and silver! These are the inconsistencies
of a rude people, among whom the arts are but partially developed. It might
not be difficult to find examples of like inconsistency in the architecture
and domestic arrangements of our Anglo-Saxon, and, at a still later period,
of our Norman ancestors.
[Footnote 31: "Simplicite, symetrie, et solidite, voila les trois caracteres
par lesquels se distinguent avantageusement tous les edifices peruviens.'
Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 115.]
Yet the buildings of the Incas were accommodated to the character of the
climate, and were well fitted to resist those terrible convulsions which
belong to the land of volcanoes. The wisdom of their plan is attested by the
number which still survive, while the more modern constructions of the
Conquerors have been buried in ruins. The hand of the Conquerors, indeed, has
fallen heavily on these venerable monuments, and, in their blind and
superstitious search for hidden treasure, has caused infinitely more ruin than
time or the earthquake. ^32 Yet enough of these monuments still remain to
invite the researches of the antiquary. Those only in the most conspicuous
situations have been hitherto examined. But, by the testimony of travellers,
many more are to be found in the less frequented parts of the country; and we
may hope they will one day call forth a kindred spirit of enterprise to that
which has so successfully explored the mysterious recesses of Central America
and Yucatan.
[Footnote 32: The anonymous author of the Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, Ms.,
gives us, at second hand, one of those golden traditions which, in early
times, fostered the spirit of adventure. The tradition, in this instance, he
thinks well entitled to credit. The reader will judge for himself.
"It is a well-authenticated report, and generally received, that there is
a secret hall in the fortress of Cuzco, where an immense treasure is
concealed, consisting of the statues of all the Incas, wrought in gold. A
lady is still living, Dona Maria de Esquivel, the wife of the last Inca, who
has visited this hall, and I have heard her relate the way in which she was
carried to see it.
"Don Carlos, the lady's husband, did not maintain a style of living
becoming his high rank. Dona Maria sometimes reproached him, declaring that
she had been deceived into marrying a poor Indian under the lofty title of
Lord or Inca. She said this so frequently, that Don Carlos one night
exclaimed, 'Lady! do you wish to know whether I am rich or poor? You shall
see that no lord nor king in the world has a larger treasure than I have.'
Then covering her eyes with a handkerchief he made her turn round two or three
times, and, taking her by the hand, led her a short distance before he removed
the bandage. On opening her eyes, what was her amazement! She had gone not
more than two hundred paces, and descended a short flight of steps, and she
now found herself in a large quadrangular hall, where, ranged on benches round
the walls, she beheld the statues of the Incas, each of the size of a boy
twelve years old, all of massive gold! She saw also many vessels of gold and
silver. 'In fact,' she said, 'it was one of the most magnificent treasures in
the whole world!'"]
I cannot close this analysis of the Peruvian institutions without a few
reflections on their general character and tendency, which, if they involve
some repetition of previous remarks, may, I trust, be excused, from my desire
to leave a correct and consistent impression on the reader. In this survey,
we cannot but be struck with the total dissimilarity between these
institutions and those of the Aztecs, - the other great nation who led in the
march of civilization on this western continent, and whose empire in the
northern portion of it was as conspicuous as that of the Incas in the south.
Both nations came on the plateau, and commenced their career of conquest, at
dates, it may be, not far removed from each other. ^33 And it is worthy of
notice, that, in America, the elevated region along the crests of the great
mountain ranges should have been the chosen seat of civilization in both
hemispheres.
[Footnote 33: Ante, chap. 1.]
