CHAPTER IX.

EQUESTRIANS AND THEIR COSTUMES.--LADIES OF LIMA.--EXCURSIONS AMONG RUINS.--PACHACAMAC, A HOLY CITY.--THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS.--ORIGIN OF THE INCA GOVERNMENT.

Horseback riding is a fashionable amusement in Lima, to judge by the number of mounted men that are seen in the streets and in the surrounding country. Our friends learned, somewhat to their disappointment, that it has declined a good deal in the past twenty years, and the gentlemen of Lima are now less renowned than formerly for their equestrianism. Still, there are many excellent riders in Lima, and occasionally one can be seen dressed in the costume that was once universally worn by the Peruvian cavaliers. The fashions of Paris have been adopted by society people in Lima, and the picturesqueness of the old style of dress is fast disappearing.

Lima contains many professional horse-breakers, and they are among the best of their class. Peruvian horses are easily instructed, and many of them perform surprising tricks; one of their feats is to turn around rapidly on the hind-legs when going at full gallop, and another is to jump over a wall, and immediately back again, with their riders on their backs. It is said that an English circus company once came to Lima, but the proprietor and performers were disgusted, and made haste to leave the country, when they found there were many horsemen in the city who could fully equal all the equestrian feats of the ring.

One of the performances of the horse-breakers is to make a horse jump to the top of a broad wall, and describe a segment of a circle while standing on his hind-feet, and holding his fore-feet over the edge of the wall. He will do this repeatedly, and thus convince the spectator that it was not accidental.

Fred made the following note of the costume of the Peruvian cavalier, uncontaminated by foreign influences:

"He wears a _poncho_, smaller than that of the country muleteer, and more gaudy in its appearance; it is a fringed shawl reaching to the hips when the wearer is standing upright, and just covering the knees when he is in the saddle. A hole in the centre admits the head, and the shawl hangs gracefully over the shoulders of its wearer; it is more convenient than a jacket, or any other riding-garment, as it leaves the arms perfectly free to move in any direction, and there are no buttons to get loose.

"The colors of the poncho are as varied as the tastes of the owners. Sometimes they are pure white, without any ornamentation, but much oftener they are richly embroidered, or made in varieties of stripes, embracing all the colors of the rainbow. The trousers are close-fitting; they have a stripe on the outside of the leg, and are held by a strap beneath the foot. No horseman would consider himself properly equipped without a pair of enormous spurs, the rowels standing out three or four inches from the heel, and the spurs containing altogether fully a pound of silver. A broad-brimmed hat and a riding-whip complete the cavalier's costume, and he is rarely without a cigar between his lips. In mounting, he generally scorns to put his feet in the stirrups, but springs on the horse without their aid. The stirrups are huge blocks of wood, shielded with fully a square foot of leather. The saddle and other trappings of the horse are richly ornamented with silver, and sometimes with gold, and occasionally the bridle, head-gear, and crupper are made of silver rings linked closely together."

The decline of Peruvian horsemanship was shown in the late war between Chili and Peru. The Chilian cavalry was admirably managed, and in several battles it performed a large share of the work; the cavalrymen were well mounted, and understood their business thoroughly, while the Peruvians were inefficiently drilled, and their horses were far inferior to those of the Chilians. One of the mounted detachments of the Peruvian army was surprised and captured during the advance upon Lima, and the whole available force of cavalry for the defence of the capital did not exceed six hundred men.

Frank and Fred were quick to remark the difference between the feminine part of the population descended from the Spanish conquerors, and those whose ancestry were the native possessors of the land. The complexion was as distinctive as the dress; the Spanish race is fair in feature, while the women of Peruvian descent have a tinge of copper or bronze in their faces. The latter wear short skirts, and leave the hair uncovered by a veil; sometimes the hair is braided in long tresses, and it is frequently topped with a hat of almost gigantic proportions. Many of these native women are excellent riders; they use the ordinary saddle of the cavalier instead of the side-saddle of more northern lands, and wear the Peruvian spur.

Our friends passed a fortnight in Lima very pleasantly, making excursions in the neighborhood, and trying the baths at Chorillos, where the fashionable population goes for its seaside sports. Two days were devoted to a visit to Pachacamac, which is in the valley of the Lurin River, about twenty miles south of Lima, and overlooking the sea. What they saw and did is best told in Fred's account of the journey.

"We went from Chorillos," said Fred, "and had a ride that was not particularly pleasant, over the dusty road leading to the seaport of Pisco, farther down the coast. Between Chorillos and the valley of the Lurin is a stretch of desert, and the sun beat pitilessly on our heads as we toiled along. Reaching the valley, we turned up the banks of the stream, and a short ride near its welcome waters brought us to the place we sought.

"Pachacamac is a famous spot in Peru, or, rather, it was so in ancient times. Its ruins cover a considerable space along a line of hills on the edge of the desert. The sand has drifted over some of the buildings and completely buried them, and we were forcibly reminded of the ruins at Thebes, and other places in Egypt, not forgetting the grand temples that stood near the pyramids of Gizeh.

"Pachacamac was the sacred city of the inhabitants of this part of the coast before they were conquered by the Incas; their chief divinity, whose name is preserved in the city, had his shrine here, and when the Incas conquered the place they built a Temple of the Sun, and a House of the Virgins of the Sun, quite near the shrine of Pachacamac. It was their object to destroy the worship of the old divinity by building a grander temple to the new, but they were not altogether successful. There was an enormous amount of gold and silver used in the construction and adornment of the temples; the Spaniards took away twenty-seven _cargas_ of gold (a carga weighs sixty-two and a half pounds), and sixteen thousand ounces of silver, but they were unable to discover the place where four hundred cargas of these metals had been concealed just previous to their arrival.

"We had quite a scramble among the ruins, as the walls are considerably broken, and the footing is often very insecure. We visited the shrine of Pachacamac, or, rather, the temple which contained it, and then went to the temple near it, erected by the Incas. The first is called 'El Castillo,' or The Temple, and the other is known as Mamacuna. The temple is on a hill, or headland, five hundred feet above the ocean, and the front of it extends down to the shore. It has been considerably shaken by the earthquakes, of which there must have been many since the time of its erection, and the wonder is that it is so well preserved.

"There was evidently a wall around the base of the hill; the slope of the hill was formed into terraces, and its upper part is supported by a terrace thirty-two feet high. In the centre of this upper part was the shrine of the deity, enclosed in a sanctuary which had a door of gold set with precious stones. But if the outside was beautiful, the inside was the reverse, as the Spaniards found only an idol of wood there, together with a flat stone where the priests performed their sacrifices. The old historians say that only the priests were allowed to go inside the sanctuary; when the Spaniards arrived there was no objection to their entering, as it was believed the deity would strike them dead for their sacrilege. The fact that they were not harmed, but proceeded without hesitation to plunder the place of its wealth, was a serious shock to the faith of these confiding natives.

"Mr. Squier's book contains an excellent description of the place, and we sat down on the top of the hill and read his account of his visit to Pachacamac. He says that in ancient times it was the Mecca of South America, and pilgrims came here from all parts of the country to worship at the shrine of the divinity who was called 'The Creator of the World.' So great was the reverence in which it was held, that these pilgrims were allowed to pass unharmed through tribes and people with whom their own might be at war; the sacredness of their mission was an ample protection.

"The natural result of this pilgrimage was that there was a large town around the temple, and in course of time many thousands of people died here, and were buried on the consecrated spot. The whole ground, for many acres around the temple, seems to have been one vast cemetery; the soil is dry, and contains a good deal of nitre, which possesses excellent preservative qualities. There are thousands and thousands of what are generally called mummies now lying in this soil, where they have lain for centuries; they were not submitted to any mummifying process, like the bodies of the ancient Egyptians, but are preserved by the action of the salts of the earth and the aridity of the atmosphere.

"Some men who came with us from a sugar plantation in the valley offered to find a grave, and reveal its contents. We assented, and they selected a spot, and began to dig.

"We had a suspicion that they had dug in the same place before, and the grave they discovered had been opened many times previously for the benefit of visitors like ourselves. We remember that the same trick is practised in Egypt, especially at the temple in the neighborhood of the Great Pyramids, and saw no reason why it should not be adopted here. With this belief we had less compunction at disturbing the resting-place of the dead than we might have had otherwise.

"The men dug four or five feet through the dry soil, and then came to a flat stone which they uncovered with great pretence of not knowing how large it was. It was about three feet square, and, perhaps, four inches thick, so that two of them had no difficulty in turning it over. Under the stone was a cavity measuring a trifle over a yard each way, and containing two bundles that had little resemblance to the human form. These were lifted out so that we might examine them; the outside wrappings were removed from one of them, and we then found that they covered a human figure, doubled so that the hands were clasped around the knees, and the head rested upon them. Our guide said this is invariably the position in which the mummies are found, and they are generally contained in a wrapping of coarse matting made of rushes, and bound with ropes or cords of the same material.

"It was the custom of the ancient Peruvians to bury with their dead the implements to which they were accustomed in life, and this may be taken to indicate their belief in a resurrection. Household utensils, combs, needles, wallets, spindles for spinning, knives, fishing-hooks and lines, spools of thread, knitting-needles, toilet articles, spoons, pottery, and many other things are found here, and the same is the case in excavations in other parts of Peru. We discovered only a few pieces of pottery and two knives of copper, and then we left the grave to be re-filled, or treated according to the taste of the inhabitants of the place.

"The character of the wrappings, and the articles found in the graves, indicate the condition in life of the occupants of this Peruvian cemetery. Mr. Squier says the burial-place at Pachacamac contains three series of graves one above the other, indicating that the spot was for a very long while dedicated to sepulture. He opened one of the second series of tombs, which evidently belonged to a family in middle circumstances, neither rich nor poor.

"The bodies were all wrapped as I have described, but underneath the covering of coarse rushes were many yards of fine cloth, similar to that which the Egyptians placed around their mummies. The tomb contained the bodies of a man, his wife, and two children; the play-things of the children were buried with them, and between the feet of the girl was a dried parrot, which was doubtless her pet. Near the bodies were several pieces of pottery, and every pot contained something. One was filled with maize or corn, another with ground-nuts, and the rest with edibles of different kinds. The collection of pots and pans was quite interesting, and revealed some of the domestic ways of the people.

"You will naturally ask how long these bodies have been lying here where we find them.

"The question is easier asked than answered. Unfortunately for us, the Peruvians had no system of writing, like the ancient Egyptians, and therefore there are no records by which we can learn their history. To get at the antiquity of the people we must judge by the traditions that have come down to us and by the effect of time upon the monuments they have left. This enables us to guess at the date of the construction of their temples, and it is proper to remark that the guesses of archaeologists who have studied the subject have been very far apart.

"The government of the Incas, which the Spaniards found and destroyed, is supposed to have existed not less than five hundred years, though some writers give it twice or three times that duration. When the Spaniards came here they found nearly all of what is now Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and a part of Chili united under one form of government, under three great tribes or families: the _Aymaraes_, the _Chinchas_, and the _Huancas_. The first of these, the Aymaraes, was the ruling race, and from it came the Incas or emperors. They occupied the high lands of Peru and Bolivia, and were said to have been more advanced in civilization than either of the others; the Chinchas dwelt mostly along the coast, while the Huancas were scattered through the mountain region between the Aymaraes and the Chinchas.

"Gradually the Aymaraes conquered the other great tribes, and their system of conquest and colonization is an interesting study.

"The tradition is that the tutelary divinity, the sun, sent his own children to instruct and govern the people, who were at war with each other, and had sunk into a condition of barbarism. These children of the sun were Manco Capac and his sister and wife, Mama Oello; they appeared first on an island in Lake Titicaca, and the island was ever afterwards regarded as holy. There are many temples around the lake and on the island to which they descended from heaven; we shall have more to say about these temples at another time.

"From Lake Titicaca, Manco Capac travelled northward, carrying a golden staff; during his travels his staff sank into the ground at a certain spot, and there he founded the city of Cuzco. Manco Capac was the first of a long line of powerful kings, who gradually subdued the surrounding people and replaced the old religions with the worship of the sun. They built magnificent temples, forts, and palaces, and the ruins of these works, as they are seen to-day, excite the admiration of every traveller.

"To appreciate the wisdom of the Incas, let us consider their manner of ruling a conquered province.

"From Cuzco, the capital, there were roads leading to the four cardinal points, and the city was divided into four quarters, which were respectively named, 'North,' 'South,' 'East,' and 'West.' When their armies had reduced a nation or a province, they brought the idols of the conquered people to Cuzco, and treated them with every mark of respect. Then they summoned the chiefs and their families to the capital, where they showed them every kindness and distinction. When these chiefs had been thoroughly instructed concerning the power of the Inca and the spirit of his government, they were sent to their homes, and very often they were restored to their official positions as representatives of the government of Cuzco.

"In the conquered region the taxes were reduced, the poor were cared for, and the language of the empire was taught to the children. They were instructed in the religion of the Incas in place of their own, but always with the greatest respect for the old form of worship.

"To make sure that there would be no rebellion of the conquered people a colony of eight or ten thousand Aymaraes was sent there to live, while a similar number of the subjugated nation was brought to the towns whence these colonists were taken. Both of the transferred colonies were given great advantages; they had many privileges of exemption from taxation, received large grants of land, and were made to feel in every way that the transfer had been for their benefit. But while the Inca government was liberal it was severe; it was the iron hand under the velvet glove, and when its kindness was refused or the conquered people rebelled they were made to understand, in the most practical manner, that disobedience and rebellion were useless.

"The four great divisions of the empire were each governed by a viceroy, appointed by the central power at Cuzco; the inhabitants were divided into groups of ten thousand, under a native chief and an Inca governor, acting together, and these were again subdivided into groups of one thousand, one hundred, and ten, each having an official who was responsible to the one above him. Every man received an allotment of land for the support of himself and family, children were obliged to follow the occupations of their fathers, no one could change his residence without permission, idleness was severely punished, robbers were put to death, those who sinned against religion or the majesty of the Inca were burned or buried alive with their families, while their houses were destroyed and their fields devastated. When a province rebelled all the men and boys in it were put to death, and the remainder of the population was scattered.

"There; I've given you quite a lecture on the ancient Peruvians, and hope you've not found it dull. Of course I realize that a large part of our enthusiasm on the subject comes from our having seen the monuments of this wonderful people, and read and heard of the way they built their nation and extended its power."

"'History repeats itself,'" said Dr. Bronson, as our young friend read the account we have just quoted. "In the descent of the children of the sun we have a repetition of the story of divine origin which has existed in many countries and lands since the beginning of governments. Manco Capac bears an exceedingly close resemblance to the Egyptian Osiris, the Chinese Fohi, the Hindoo Buddha, and the Scandinavian Odin. The same idea is preserved to-day in the 'divine right of kings,' which is so often quoted, and in which millions of people have implicit faith."

"History is repeated, too, in another way," said Frank. "The system of colonization and government under the Incas reminds me of what we saw in Java, the most successful European colony in the eastern hemisphere. The government of the people by their own chiefs, supervised by an official of the ruling power, the punishment of idleness, and the distribution of land so that everybody can earn a living for himself and family, might almost have been borrowed from the ancient Peruvians by the Dutch possessors of Java and the islands of the Malay Archipelago."

"It is not very likely the Dutch troubled themselves about ancient Peru," replied the Doctor; "they probably formed their system to suit the character of the people they were to govern; and when we remember the natural shrewdness with which their nation is credited we need not wonder that they established such an excellent government. It has its features of severity, like that of the Incas, but it has been decidedly beneficial to the subject race."

"Is the tradition correct that the people were sunk in barbarism when Manco Capac came on earth?" Frank inquired.

"It is a pleasant fiction," replied the Doctor, "invented by the Incas as an excuse for their subjugation of the neighboring provinces and kingdoms. The evidences are that some of the finest monuments of Peru are older than the Inca empire, and several of the conquered nations were well advanced in civilization, and understood many useful arts and occupations. Manco Capac began with Cuzco, and then with the country a few leagues around it; his rule and that of his descendants was gradually extended until, at the coming of the Spaniards, it embraced forty degrees of latitude and a population of ten millions of people. Since the Spanish conquest the native population has diminished, and there are now little over four millions of inhabitants in the old dominions of the Incas."

Our friends passed the night at a sugar plantation about two miles from the ruins of Pachacamac, and returned the next day to Lima. There is now only a small village where once was a large city; the inhabitants are employed on the sugar plantations and in the cultivation of their gardens, which are watered by careful irrigation from the Lurin River. The village was burned by the Chilians during the late war, and the traces of their devastations will long remain. The inhabitants fled for safety, and some of them never found their way back again to their birth-places.

Pachacamac does not contain the only ruins in the neighborhood of Lima. At Magdalena, not far from the railway between Callao and the capital, is an extensive ruin which was in good condition at the time of the Spanish conquest; the material has been taken for building purposes, so that the spot is hardly worth visiting at present. The temple contained an idol known as Rimac, whose name is preserved in the river. The idol used to speak, after the manner of the oracles of the Egyptian and Greek temples, and in exactly the same way; a priest was concealed in the statue, which was hollow, and thus the confiding populace was deceived. The deceptions of paganism were as well known in the New World as in the Old.

There are ruins near Chorillos which have also undergone demolition for the sake of their brick and stone, and in the valley of the River Chillon, ten miles northwest of Lima, is a fortification enclosing a hill about five hundred feet high. There is a wall at the base of the hill, another about half-way up, and a third around a level space at the top, where there is a watch-tower, with several ruined buildings. The upper wall is fourteen feet high and made of stones set in tough mortar. As the ancient Peruvians had no knowledge of gunpowder, a fortress of this sort was an excellent protection for a garrison.

Following up the valley of the Rimac, twelve or fifteen miles from Lima we come to a side valley which contains the ruins of Cajamarquilla. It was a city about three miles square, laid out into streets and blocks and containing many massive walls which the earthquakes have not been able to destroy. The history of this city is not even known in tradition, and the natives shake their heads when inquiry is made concerning it. The ruins were there when the Spaniards came to Peru.

The buildings of this American Baalbec were extensive and connected by narrow passages and subterranean vaults, that seem to have been used for storage purposes. The doorways were low and curiously shaped, and there are no signs of windows in the houses.

Frank and Fred desired to visit the place, but as it was said to be the haunt of robbers, and not particularly safe, the idea of an excursion was abandoned. Mr. Squier had an encounter with a noted robber while inspecting these ruins, but a display of his commission from the government of the United States secured the good-will of the brigand, and the stranger was saved from harm.