QUICHUA
606
QUICHUA
and one-fourth to religion. From the one-half
claimed for Government and religion a portion was
held in reserve for famine seasons and other emer-
gencies. Seeds, wool, leather, and cotton were
also distributed, under supervision of the Govern-
ment, which also regulated the ownership of live-
stock. Militarj- service was a universal obligation.
To hasten the assimilation of the conquered peoples
large bodies of them were regularly colonized in the
older portions of the empire, the inhabitants of these
latter districts
being transplant-
ed to the new pos-
sessions. The re-
ligion of the Sun
was made obUga-
torj- throughout
the empire as was
also, so far as
possible, the use
of the Quichua
language.
There seems to be no doubt that the ancient Peruvians had at- tained the mono- t h e i s t i c idea. Their great god was the Sun, from whom the Incas themselves claimed descent, although the white-skinned and bearded culture hero, Vriacocha, "SeaFoam"(?), apparently apersoni- fication of the dawn, was regarded vsith almost equal veneration. The emperor was the great high priest of the nation. The ceremonial forms were elaborate and magnificent and without the bloody rites so frequent and sickening in other native systems. The great Temple of the Sun in Cuzco contained a massive golden image of the sim, and the walls and roof were covered with plates of solid gold, which the unfor- tunate Atahualja in vain dehvered as a ransom to the faithless Pizarro. The great Sun temple at Quito and the temple dedicated to the Yunca god Pachacamac were of nearly equal magnificence. The dead were wrapt in cloths and deposited in graves or tombs of various construction. At Ancon on the coast is a vast necropoUs from which thousands of mummified bodies have been resurrected. Near Trujillo, in the Yunca countr>% are several great burial pyramids, one of them two hundred feet high, filled with bodies in separate niches. From one of these pyramids sixteen millions of dollars in gold are said to have been t'lken.
The golden wealth of Peru imder the Incas almost surpasses belief. The countr>' was rich in the pre- cious metal, which was systematically mined by the Government. Silver was mined in due proportion and worked, like gold, into objects of skill and beauty. Tools, weapons and household implements were fashioned of copper, bronze, and stone. Iron was unknovv-n. Emeralds and porphyrj' were in use for decorative or sculptural purposes. Their potters excelled in general workmanship and in variety and ingenuity of design. Head flattening prevailed. Clothing, blankets, and other textile fabrics were woven from cotton and from the hair of their flocks. Agriculture had reached a high standard, with sys- tematic irrigation, mountain terracing and use of guano manure from the coast islands. Great herds of llamas and alpacas were kept .as burden-bearers or for their hair. The vicuna was protected for game purposes. It is in architecture and engineering that
the Quichua have left their most enduring monument.
Their temples, fortresses, canals, and stupendous
mountain roads are still the wonder of every traveller;
and the great imperial highway stretching along the
Andes for a thousand miles from Cuzco to Quito
was the equal of any of the famous Roman roads, and
is still in good preservation.
The modern Quichua is of medium height, with large chest, dark-brown skin, and well-marked fea- tures; strong, enduring and long hved; industrious, gentle, and disposed to melancholy. He is given to music and song recitation. He is fond of chiurch ceremonial, with which he frequently mingles some of his ancient rites, and loves to set up wayside shrines and decorate them with flowers. Their houses, out- side of the towns, are of stone or wood, and thatched with grass, of one room, without window or chim- ney. Their favourite dish is chupe, a highly pep- pered meat stew, and the favourite intoxicant is cfiicha, of com chewed, boiled with water, and fermented. They are great smokers. They are dressed in woollen clothing of their own weaving, generally surmounted by a cloak, and a white som- brero or skull-cap. The Quichua langu;ige has been extensively cultivated; it is capable of expressing fine shades of meaning. Of the several dialects, that of Cuzco is considered the standard and that of Quito the most remote. It is still the language of Ecuador and Peru, outside of the principal cities, and even of the wild tribes formerly attached to the Jesuit and Franciscan missions of the upper tributaries of the Amazon. The earliest study of it is the "Gramdtica de la lengua general del Peru", by the Dominican Father Domingo de Santo Tomds (ValladoUd, 1560). Between that date and 1754 nine other grammars and dictionaries by the missionaries were published at Lima. Of modern studies the most important are: Markham, "Grammar and Dictionarj' of Quichua"
(London, 1864); Anchorena, "Gramdtica Quechua"
(Lima, 1874); von Tschudi, "Organismus der
Khetsua Sprache" (Leipzig, 1SS7); and Midden-
dorf, "Das Ruma Simi oder die Keshua Sprache"
(Leipzig, 1890). Of its abundant native literature
the most remarkable example is the pre-Conquest
drama of Allanta, of wiiich the best of many editions
is that of Zegarra, "OlLanta: Drame en vers Quechnas
du temps des Incas" (Paris, 1S7S, tr. London, 1871).
A collection of modern native folk songs, under the
title of "Yaravies. Quitenos", was published by
Espada at Madrid in 1881.
.•\iosT.\. Hisl. nat. y moral de las Indias (Seville, 1590, tr. Lon- don. lt)04); Ambrosetti, Exploraciones ArqueoldfficoR, Calchaqui Iribes (Buenos Aires, 1906-S); Ballivian, Donim. para la hisl. de . . . Balina (Tupac Amaru rising) (La Pai. 1906); BoMAK. Antiquitfs de la rfgion Aruline (Paris, 190S); Bristos. American Race (New York, 1891); BrChl. CuUurTotker AU- A merikas (Cincinnati, 1887) ; Castelnau, Expedition dans i'ATni-
