The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 33: "That which is most admirable in the hatred and
presumption of Sathan is, that he not onely counterfeited in
idolatry and sacrifices, but also in certain ceremonies, our
sacraments, which Jesus Christ our Lord instituted, and the holy
Church uses, having especially pretended to imitate, in some
sort, the sacrament of the communion, which is the most high and
divine of all others." Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 23.]

[Footnote 34: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 4. -
Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

"The father of lies would likewise counterfeit the sacrament of
Confession, and in his idolatries sought to be honored with
ceremonies very like to the manner of Christians." Acosta, lib.
5, cap. 25.]

[Footnote 35: Cieza de Leon, not content with many marvellous
accounts of the influence and real apparition of Satan in the
Indian ceremonies, has garnished his volume with numerous
wood-cuts representing the Prince of Evil in bodily presence with
the usual accompaniments of tail, claws, &c., as if to reenforce
the homilies in his text! The Peruvian saw in his idol a god.
His Christian conqueror saw in it the Devil. One may be puzzled
to decide which of the two might lay claim to the grossest
superstition.]

[Footnote 36: Piedrahita, the historian of the Muyscas, is
satisfied that this apostle must have been St. Bartholomew, whose
travels were known to have been extensive. (Conq. de Granada,
Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 3.) The Mexican antiquaries consider St.
Thomas as having had charge of the mission to the people of
Anahuac. These two apostles, then, would seem to have divided
the New World, at least the civilized portions of it, between
them. How they came, whether by Behring's Straits, or directly
across the Atlantic, we are not informed. Velasco - a writer of
the eighteenth century! - has little doubt that they did really
come. Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 89, 90.]

[Footnote 37: The subject is illustrated by some examples in the
"History of the Conquest of Mexico," vol. III., Appendix, No. 1.;
since the same usages in that country led to precisely the same
rash conclusions among the Conquerors.]

Another singular analogy with Roman Catholic institutions is
presented by the Virgins of the Sun, the "elect," as they were
called, *38 to whom I have already had occasion to refer. These
were young maidens, dedicated to the service of the deity, who,
at a tender age, were taken from their homes, and introduced into
convents, where they were placed under the care of certain
elderly matrons, mamaconas, who had grown grey within their
walls. *39 Under these venerable guides, the holy virgins were
instructed in the nature of their religious duties. They were
employed in spinning and embroidery, and, with the fine hair of
the vicuna, wove the hangings for the temples, and the apparel
for the Inca and his household. *40 It was their duty, above all,
to watch over the sacred fire obtained at the festival of Raymi.
From the moment they entered the establishment, they were cut off
from all connection with the world, even with their own family
and friends. No one but the Inca, and the Coya or queen, might
enter the consecrated precincts. The greatest attention was paid
to their morals, and visitors were sent every year to inspect the
institutions, and to report on the state of their discipline. *41
Woe to the unhappy maiden who was detected in an intrigue! By
the stern law of the Incas, she was to be buried alive, her lover
was to be strangled, and the town or village to which he belonged
was to be razed to the ground, and "sowed with stones," as if to
efface every memorial of his existence. *42 One is astonished to
find so close a resemblance between the institutions to find so
close a resemblance between the institutions of the American
Indian, the ancient Roman, and the modern Catholic! Chastity and
purity of life are virtues in woman, that would seem to be of
equal estimation with the barbarian and with the civilized. - Yet
the ultimate destination of the inmates of these religious houses
was materially different.

[Footnote 38: Llamavase Casa de Escogidas; porque las escogian. o
por Linage, o por Hermosura." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,
lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 39: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

The word mamacona signified "matron"; mama, the first half of
this compound word, as already noticed, meaning "mother." See
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 40: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 41: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 42: Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist.
del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 11. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,
Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 3.
According to the historian of the Incas, the terrible penalty was
never incurred by a single lapse on the part of the fair
sisterhood; though, if it had been, the sovereign, he assures us,
would have "exacted it to the letter, with as little compunction
as he would have drowned a puppy." (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4,
cap. 3.) Other writers contend, on the contrary, that these
Virgins had very little claim to the reputation of Vestals. (See
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind.,
cap. 121.) Such imputations are common enough on the inhabitants
of religious houses, whether pagan or Christian. They are
contradicted in the present instance by the concurrent testimony
of most of those who had the best opportunity of arriving at
truth, and are made particularly improbable by the superstitious
reverence entertained for the Incas.]

The great establishment at Cuzco consisted wholly of maidens of
the royal blood, who amounted, it is said, to no less than
fifteen hundred. The provincial convents were supplied from the
daughters of the curacas and inferior nobles, and, occasionally,
where a girl was recommended by great personal attractions, from
the lower classes of the people. *43 The "Houses of the Virgins
of the Sun" consisted of low ranges of stone buildings, covering
a large extent of ground, surrounded by high walls, which
excluded those within entirely from observation. They were
provided with every accommodation for the fair inmates, and were
embellished in the same sumptuous and costly manner as the
palaces of the Incas, and the temples; for they received the
particular care of government, as an important part of the
religious establishment. *44

[Footnote 43: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 44: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 5. - Cieza de Leon,
Cronica, cap. 44.]

Yet the career of all the inhabitants of these cloisters was not
confined within their narrow walls. Though Virgins of the Sun,
they were brides of the Inca, and, at a marriageable age, the
most beautiful among them were selected for the honors of his
bed, and transferred to the royal seraglio. The full complement
of this amounted in time not only to hundreds, but thousands, who
all found accommodations in his different palaces throughout the
country. When the monarch was disposed to lessen the number of
his establishment, the concubine with whose society he was
willing to dispense returned, not to her former monastic
residence, but to her own home; where, however humble might be
her original condition, she was maintained in great state, and,
far from being dishonored by the situation she had filled, was
held in universal reverence as the Inca's bride. *45

[Footnote 45: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.
Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap.4. - Montesinos, Mem Antiguas, Ms.,
lib 2, cap. 19.]

The great nobles of Peru were allowed, like their sovereign, a
plurality of wives. The people, generally, whether by law, or by
necessity stronger than law, were more happily limited to one.
Marriage was conducted in a manner that gave it quite as original
a character as belonged to the other institutions of the country.
On an appointed day of the year, all those of a marriageable age
- which, having reference to their ability to take charge of a
family, in the males was fixed at not less than twenty-four
years, and in the women at eighteen or twenty - were called
together in the great squares of their respective towns and
villages, throughout the empire. The Inca presided in person
over the assembly of his own kindred, and taking the hands of the
different couples who were to be united, he placed them within
each other, declaring the parties man and wife. The same was
done by the curacas towards all persons of their own or inferior
degree in their several districts. This was the simple form of
marriage in Peru. No one was allowed to select a wife beyond the
community to which he belonged, which generally comprehended all
his own kindred; *46 nor was any but the sovereign authorized to
dispense with the law of nature - or at least, the usual law of
nations - so far as to marry his own sister. *47 No marriage was
esteemed valid without the consent of the parents; and the
preference of the parties, it is said, was also to be consulted;
though, considering the barriers imposed by the prescribed age of
the candidates, this must have been within rather narrow and
whimsical limits. A dwelling was got ready for the new-married
pair at the charge of the district, and the prescribed portion of
land assigned for their maintenance. The law of Peru provided for
the future, as well as for the present. It left nothing to
chance. - The simple ceremony of marriage was followed by general
festivities among the friends of the parties, which lasted
several days; and as every wedding took place on the same day,
and as there were few families who had not some one of their
members or their kindred personally interested, there was one
universal bridal jubilee throughout the empire. *48

[Footnote 46: By the strict letter of the law, according to
Garcilasso, no one was to marry out of his own lineage. But this
narrow rule had a most liberal interpretation, since all of the
same town, and even province, he assures us, were reckoned of kin
to one another. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 8.]

[Footnote 47: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 9.
This practice, so revolting to our feelings that it might well be
deemed to violate the law of nature, must not, however, be
regarded as altogether peculiar to the Incas, since it was
countenanced by some of the most polished nations of antiquity.]

[Footnote 48: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,
Parte lib. 6, cap. 36. - Dec. de la Aud Real., Ms. - Montesinos,
Mem Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6.]

The extraordinary regulations respecting marriage under the Incas
are eminently characteristic of the genius of the government;
which, far from limiting itself to matters of public concern,
penetrated into the most private recesses of domestic life,
allowing no man, however humble, to act for himself, even in
those personal matters in which none but himself, or his family
at most, might be supposed to be interested. No Peruvian was too
low for the fostering vigilance of government. None was so high
that he was not made to feel his dependence upon it in every act
of his life. His very existence as an individual was absorbed in
that of the community. His hopes and his fears, his joys and his
sorrows, the tenderest sympathies of his nature, which would most
naturally shrink from observation, were all to be regulated by
law. He was not allowed even to be happy in his own way. The
government of the Incas was the mildest, - but the most searching
of despotisms.

Chapter IV:

Education. - Quipus. - Astronomy. - Agriculture. - Aqueducts. -
Guano. - Important Esculents.

"Science was not intended for the people; but for those of
generous blood. Persons of low degree are only puffed up by it,
and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should such meddle with
the affairs of government; for this would bring high offices into
disrepute, and cause detriment to the state." *1 Such was the
favorite maxim, often repeated, of Tupac Inca Yupanqi, one of the
most renowned of the Peruvian sovereigns. It may seem strange
that such a maxim should ever have been proclaimed in the New
World, where popular institutions have been established on a more
extensive scale than was ever before witnessed; where government
rests wholly on the people; and education - at least, in the
great northern division of the continent - is mainly directed to
qualify the people for the duties of government. Yet this maxim
was strictly conformable to the genius of the Peruvian monarchy,
and may serve as a key to its habitual policy; since, while it
watched with unwearied solicitude over its subjects, provided for
their physical necessities, was mindful of their morals, and
showed, throughout, the affectionate concern of a parent for his
children, it yet regarded them only as children, who were never
to emerge from the state of pupilage, to act or to think for
themselves, but whose whole duty was comprehended in the
obligation of implicit obedience.

[Footnote 1: "No es licito, que ensenen a los hijos de los
Plebeios, las Ciencias, que pertenescen a los Generosos, y no
mas; porque como Gente baja, no se eleven, y ensobervezcan, y
menoscaben, y apoqueen la Republica: bastales, que aprendan los
Oficios de sus Padres; que el Mandar, y Governar no es de
Plebeious, que es hacer agravio al Oficio, y a la Republica,
encomendarsela a Gente comun." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,
lib. 8, cap. 8.]

Such was the humiliating condition of the people under the Incas,
while the numerous families of the blood royal enjoyed the
benefit of all the light of education, which the civilization of
the country could afford; and, long after the Conquest, the spots
continued to be pointed out where the seminaries had existed for
their instruction. These were placed under the care of the
amautas, or "wise men," who engrossed the scanty stock of science
- if science it could be called - possessed by the Peruvians, and
who were the sole teachers of youth. It was natural that the
monarch should take a lively interest in the instruction of the
young nobility, his own kindred. Several of the Peruvian princes
are said to have built their palaces in the neighbourhood of the
schools, in order that they might the more easily visit them and
listen to the lectures of the amautas, which they occasionally
reinforced by a homily of their own. *2 In these schools, the
royal pupils were instructed in all the different kinds of
knowledge in which their teachers were versed, with especial
reference to the stations they were to occupy in after-life.
They studied the laws, and the principles of administering the
government, in which many of them were to take part. They were
initiated in the peculiar rites of their religion, most necessary
to those who were to assume the sacerdotal functions. They
learned also to emulate the achievements of their royal ancestors
by listening to the chronicles compiled by the amautas. They
were taught to speak their own dialect with purity and elegance;
and they became acquainted with the mysterious science of the
quipus, which supplied the Peruvians with the means of
communicating their ideas to one another, and of transmitting
them to future generations. *3

[Footnote 2: Ibid., Parte 1, lib 7, cap. 10. The descendant of
the Incas notices the remains, visible in his day, or two of the
palaces of his royal ancestors, which had been built in the
vicinity of the schools, for more easy access to them.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 19]

The quipu was a cord about two feet long, composed of different
colored threads tightly twisted together, from which a quantity
of smaller threads were suspended in the manner of a fringe. The
threads were of different colors and were tied into knots. The
word quipu, indeed, signifies a knot. The colors denoted sensible
objects; as, for instance, white represented silver, and yellow,
gold. They sometimes also stood for abstract ideas. Thus, white
signified peace, and red, war. But the quipus were chiefly used
for arithmetical purposes. The knots served instead of ciphers,
and could be combined in such a manner as to represent numbers to
any amount they required. By means of these they went through
their calculations with great rapidity, and the Spaniards who
first visited the country bear testimony to their accuracy. *4

[Footnote 4: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion,
Ms., cap. 9. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 8. - Garcilasso Parte 1, lib.
6, cap. 8.]

Officers were established in each of the districts, who, under
the title of quipucamayus, or "keepers of the quipus," were
required to furnish the government with information on various
important matters. One had charge of the revenues, reported the
quantity of raw material distributed among the laborers, the
quality and quantity of the fabrics made from it, and the amount
of stores, of various kinds, paid into the royal magazines.
Another exhibited the register of births and deaths, the
marriages, the number of those qualified to bear arms, and the
like details in reference to the population of the kingdom.
These returns were annually forwarded to the capital, where they
were submitted to the inspection of officers acquainted with the
art of deciphering these mystic records. The government was thus
provided with a valuable mass of statistical information, and the
skeins of many-colored threads, collected and carefully
preserved, constituted what might be called the national
archives. *5

[Footnote 5: Ondegardo expresses his astonishment at the variety
of objects embraced by these simple records, "hardly credible by
one who had not seen them." "En aquella ciudad se hallaron muchos
viejos oficiales antiguos del Inga, asi de la religion, como del
Govierno, y otra cosa que no pudiera creer sino la viera, que por
hilos y nudos se hallan figuradas las leyes, y estatutos asi de
lo uno como de lo otro, las sucesiones de los Reyes y tiempo que
governaron: y hallose lo que todo esto tenian a su cargo que no
fue poco, y aun tube alguna claridad de los estatutos que en
tiempo de cada uno se havia: puesto." (Rel. Prim., Ms.) (See also
Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 9. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 8, -
Garcilasso, Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 8, 9.) A vestige of the quipus
is still to be found in some parts of Peru, where the shepherds
keep the tallies of their numerous flocks by means of this
ancient arithmetic]
But, although the quipus sufficed for all the purposes of
arithmetical computation demanded by the Peruvians, they were
incompetent to represent the manifold ideas and images which are
expressed by writing. Even here, however, the invention was not
without its use. For, independently of the direct representation
of simple objects, and even of abstract ideas, to a very limited
extent, as above noticed, it afforded great help to the memory by
way of association. The peculiar knot or color, in this way,
suggested what it could not venture to represent; in the same
manner - to borrow the homely illustration of an old writer - as
the number of the Commandment calls to mind the Commandment
itself. The quipus, thus used, might be regarded as the Peruvian
system of mnemonics.

Annalists were appointed in each of the principal communities,
whose business it was to record the most important events which
occurred in them. Other functionaries of a higher character,
usually the amautas, were intrusted with the history of the
empire, and were selected to chronicle the great deeds of the
reigning Inca, or of his ancestors. *6 The narrative, thus
concocted, could be communicated only by oral tradition; but the
quipus served the chronicler to arrange the incidents with
method, and to refresh his memory. The story, once treasured up
in the mind, was indelibly impressed there by frequent
repetition. It was repeated by the amauta to his pupils, and in
this way history, conveyed partly by oral tradition, and partly
by arbitrary signs, was handed down from generation to
generation, with sufficient discrepancy of details, but with a
general conformity of outline to the truth.

[Footnote 6: Ibid., ubi supra.]

The Peruvian quipus were, doubtless, a wretched substitute for
that beautiful contrivance, the alphabet, which, employing a few
simple characters as the representatives of sounds, instead of
ideas, is able to convey the most delicate shades of thought that
ever passed through the mind of man. The Peruvian invention,
indeed, was far below that of the hieroglyphics, even below the
rude picture-writing of the Aztecs; for the latter art, however
incompetent to convey abstract ideas, could depict sensible
objects with tolerable accuracy. It is evidence of the total
ignorance in which the two nations remained of each other, that
the Peruvians should have borrowed nothing of the hieroglyphical
system of the Mexicans, and this, notwithstanding that the
existence of the maguey plant, agave, in South America might have
furnished them with the very material used by the Aztecs for the
construction of their maps. *7

[Footnote 7: Ibid., ubi supra. - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. -
Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 9.

Yet the quipus must be allowed to bear some resemblance to the
belts of wampum - made of colored beads strung together - in
familiar use among the North American tribes, for commemorating
treaties, and for other purposes.]
It is impossible to contemplate without interest the struggles
made by different nations, as they emerge from barbarism, to
supply themselves with some visible symbols of thought, - that
mysterious agency by which the mind of the individual may be put
in communication with the minds of a whole community. The want
of such a symbol is itself the greatest impediment to the
progress of civilization. For what is it but to imprison the
thought, which has the elements of immortality, within the bosom
of its author, or of the small circle who come in contact with
him, instead of sending it abroad to give light to thousands, and
to generations yet unborn! Not only is such a symbol an
essential element of civilization, but it may be assumed as the
very criterion of civilization; for the intellectual advancement
of a people will keep pace pretty nearly with its facilities for
intellectual communication.
Yet we must be careful not to underrate the real value of the
Peruvian system: nor to suppose that the quipus were as awkward
an instrument, in the hand of a practised native, as they would
be in ours. We know the effect of habit in all mechanical
operations, and the Spaniards bear constant testimony to the
adroitness and accuracy of the Peruvians in this. Their skill is
not more surprising than the facility with which habit enables us
to master the contents of a printed page, comprehending thousands
of separate characters, by a single glance, as it were, though
each character must require a distinct recognition by the eye,
and that, too, without breaking the chain of thought in the
reader's mind. We must not hold the invention of the quipus too
lightly, when we reflect that they supplied the means of
calculation demanded for the affairs of a great nation, and that,
however insufficient, they afforded no little help to what
aspired to the credit of literary composition.
The office of recording the national annals was not wholly
confined to the amautas. It was assumed in part by the haravecs,
or poets, who selected the most brilliant incidents for their
songs or ballads, which were chanted at the royal festivals and
at the table of the Inca. *8 In this manner, a body of
traditional minstrelsy grew up, like the British and Spanish
ballad poetry, by means of which the name of many a rude
chieftain, that might have perished for want of a chronicler, has
been borne down the tide of rustic melody to later generations.

[Footnote 8: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,
Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 27.

The word haravec signified "inventor" or "finder"; and in his
title, as well as in his functions, the minstrel-poet may remind
us of the Norman trouvere. Garcilasso has translated one of the
little lyrical pieces of his countrymen. It is light and lively;
but one short specimen affords no basis for general criticism.]

Yet history may be thought not to gain much by this alliance with
poetry; for the domain of the poet extends over an ideal realm
peopled with the shadowy forms of fancy, that bear little
resemblance to the rude realities of life. The Peruvian annals
may be deemed to show somewhat of the effects of this union,
since there is a tinge of the marvellous spread over them down to
the very latest period, which, like a mist before the reader's
eye, makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.

The poet found a convenient instrument for his purposes in the
beautiful Quichua dialect. We have already seen the
extraordinary measures taken by the Incas for propagating their
language throughout their empire. Thus naturalized in the
remotest provinces, it became enriched by a variety of exotic
words and idioms, which, under the influence of the Court and of
poetic culture, if I may so express myself, was gradually
blended, like some finished mosaic made up of coarse and
disjointed materials, into one harmonious whole. The Quichua
became the most comprehensive and various, as well as the most
elegant, of the South American dialects. *9