writers would represent as the universal and undemting. attribute
of the native races of the New World.
The character of the Quichuas, Moral and intellectual, has
been ably sketched by M. d*Orbigny, who has derived his
information partly from ample descriptions of that people by
Acosta and Garcilasso de la Vega, and in part from his personal
observation. Acosta was one of the earliest and best-informed
of the Spanish writers who gave a full and detailed account
of the Peruvians soon after their conquest by Pizarro, and
Garcilasso, who was allied by descent to the royal family, was
the author of a celebrated work on the. history of the Incas,
including the origin and fall of that celebrated dynasty. The
Peruvians, as it is well known, had historical records fike the
Mexicans. Acosta says that they had historical paintings,
but they used chiefly for ordinaiy purposes quippos, o f which
the same writer gives the following account. “ In the diffe-
rent affairs of war, government, tributes, of ceremony, ^ a g r iculture,
there were different sorts of quippos or ends o f e&i'ds—
‘ ramales.’ In each bundle there were many knots and
cords fastened together, some red, some green, blue, and
white, producing s® many different combinations, that; as: wte
express an infinity of words by arranging twenty-four letters
in various forms, so they with their differently coloured knots
contrived to represent innumerable signs of things.” According
to Garcilasso they were able to record the memorials of
their history by means of these quippos.^ vIt is a curious fact
that the Chinese are said by their ancient historians to have
used knotted cords for similar purposes before the invention of
their symbolic characters. The Mexicans also are said to have
practised an art of the same kind,. The Peruvians had considerable
attainments in science, which they appear to have
made independently of all foreign aid, even from the nations
* Garcilasso says the Peruvians used instead of letters “ knots of divers
colours tied in a silken twist, the colours being as so many cyphers. In this
manner, by way of knots, they kept all their .accounts so exactly and summed
them up with such readiness, that. to the great admiration of the Spaniards
their best arithmeticians could not exceed them.7' The Itoya.1 'Commentaries
of the Incas of Peru, by the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, book ii., chap. 6,
rendered into English by Sir Paul Rycaut, Kt.; lG88,fol.
o'f America. Their decimal system cf arithmetic indicates a
total separation between them and the Mexicans. They had
■observed the solstices and thecquinoxOs, and the length of
the sokt yëar.* The tomairis'-of their feaspiès display great
taste and skill m architecture: they cultivated poetry and
music, -and the “ redo-adilas ” or reundeMys ofthe Incas Were
celebrated by the Spanish writers for their pathetic ’tfcficHlèau«
t-ifal simplicity. Their 'language was harmonious, graceful,
and formed by the most artificial system of inÉeérions and
combinations. Their religion was, if we may apply such
epithets to any'Uninspired faith, the Mere result of fhfe inward
light of die untaught human mind, ha the highestdegree
Spiritual and subtiraie. They ■recognised In PachacaMac the
invisible God-, the creator Of all thi-nglf «upiCïöfe Over dll, who
governed the Motioff' of the Ifoavehly bodfe, hnd whom they
worshipped without image or temple in the Open air,'wMlito
the -Sun, his visible creature, they efeêted temples, honoured
him with costly gifts, and with riteSperformed bycOhsOCrdted
virgins. In the milder Character of their religion, and the
greater softness and gentleness of their moral disposition; the
Peruvians are strongly distinguished from the natibOS Of Ana-
huae, and particularly fifom those-cff^tfee TolteC and Aztec race.
Pqraqrwph 2.—The AyM&ras.
The Aymara language was observed by Vate'r to have
many words in common with the Quichtra, but that Wrifot
doubted whether this resulted from ancient sameness or from
later intercourse. That these languages weTe ©righiafl^eogi-
nate, and the people branches of one race; is an opinion which
we are strongly tempted to adopt. 'We‘ afe hgsured by
M. d’Orbigny that the Aymara language resembles the
Quichua in its forms and construction. He ad d l^ ^SW e
* The summer and winter solstices., says Garcilasso, were marked by eight
towers, which they erected, to the east, Add as many to, fhe. •v^eStfpX,the oity nf
Cusc.o, When the sun came to -ri^gMcUwoimeshe^tp eight $£ the^e toners
which were to the east of the city, and to set j,u^t agalrrgt those in the wejft, it
was then thfe summer solstice. Itoy&l (pbmfh. bbbk ii.,t^ap;if.*,
2 h 2