plagiarism, with those described by Garcilasso and other early Spanish writers.
The drama of Ollanta is not alone in allowing a romantic passion to transgress the usages of the Ynca court. A still more interesting love story is told by Balboa,[1] who relates the events as having actually occurred during the reign of Ynca Huascar, and as having been recounted to him by contemporaries. I mention it as a proof that the plot of Ollanta is not in opposition to probabilities; but space forbids the gratification of my natural wish to tell this second love tale of Ynca times.
I am in possession of twenty ancient Ynca songs, which I obtained from Dr Justiniani, and which had been first committed to writing in the last century by his grandfather and by Dr Valdez; and I also have some Quichua poems by Dr Lunarejo, the most elegant Quichua scholar of Spanish times. I hope hereafter to find time to complete the translation of these additional fragments of Ynca literature. Meanwhile I am fully persuaded that diligent research in the towns and villages of the Peruvian Andes would be rewarded by the discovery of further specimens of the ancient literature of the children of the Sun.
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM.
- ↑ Balboa, cap. xvi. pp. 224–304.
