# The Incas of Peru/Chapter 10

CHAPTER X
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE INCAS
It was the wise policy of the Incas to try to establish one language throughout their vast dominions, and they had an excellent instrument for their purpose. Their language was called Runa-simi, literally, the 'man's mouth,' or, as we should say, the man's tongue or the human speech. It was spoken, in its perfection, in the Inca and Quichua regions, the lands watered by the Vilcamayu and the Apurimac, with their tributaries. But the speech of more distant tribes was closely allied, and merely formed dialects, so that the establishment of the use of the Runa-simi presented but slight difficulties. Indeed, I am inclined to think that the separate dialects were the débris of one original language spoken during the megalithic age. Differences would be caused by the isolation of ayllus in valleys difficult of access. The same words would receive different meanings, while different words would get to have the same meaning.
It was the object of the rulers of Peru that these differences should disappear, and this useful administrative measure was quickly and automatically nearing completion. The Runa-simi is a rich ​and flexible language. It would be tedious to enter into much detail, but a few peculiarities may be mentioned. The letters B, D, F, and G (hard) are wanting, and the vowels E and O are rarely used. But there are some forcible gutturals, and some words require a very strong emphasis on the initial P and T. The sound Ch is frequent. In the grammar there are no genders, no articles, and the particle, which forms the plural of nouns, is declined. The verbs have two first persons plural, inclusive and exclusive, and particles which have the effect of indicating transition from the first person to the second, second to third, third to first, and third to second. But the peculiarity in the language which gives it such great power of expression and flexibility is the use of nominal and verbal particles. They are exceedingly numerous, serving to alter the parts of speech, and to modify the meanings of words in an infinite number of ways. As is the case with some other American languages, there is a great variety of names for degrees of relationship. For instance, there is a different word for the sister of a brother and the sister of a sister, and vice versâ.
The Runa-simi was well adapted for administrative purposes, such as promulgating decrees, recording statistics, and keeping accounts. For the latter purposes the Peruvians resorted to the ​use of quipus. I am unable to throw any new light on the extent to which this system could be made to record events, except that further evidence has been forthcoming that they were actually used for such purposes. For administrative work their utility cannot be doubted, and they served their purpose admirably. The quipu was a rope to which a number of strings were attached, on which knots were made to denote numbers – units, tens, hundreds, &c. The Peruvians had a complete system of numeration. The colours of the strings explained the subjects to which the numbers referred. The accounts were in charge of trained officials called Quipucamayoc, and by this method the complicated business of a great empire was conducted.
It is quite conceivable that, with a sufficient staff of trained and competent officials, such a system might be made to work efficiently. Indeed, we know that this was the case. The difficulty is to understand how traditions could be preserved and historical events recorded by the use of quipus. Blas Valera refers, as his authorities for various statements respecting rites and ceremonies, to the quipus preserved in different provinces, and even by private persons.
There must, however, have been interpreters of the quipus, those who, with knowledge derived ​from other sources, could use the knots as reminders and suggesters by which an event could be kept in memory with more accuracy. These were the Amautas, or learned men and councillors. For them the quipus formed a system of reminders, giving accuracy to knowledge derived from other methods of recording events and traditions. For it cannot be supposed that the system of different coloured knots could do more than supply a sort of aid to memory, or a memoria technica. It is, however, certain that the traditions and records of events were preserved by the Amautas with considerable exactness. There is, for instance, the Paccari-tampu myth. It is told by Garcilasso de la Vega, Cieza de Leon, Betanzos, Balboa, Morua, Montesinos, Salcamayhua and Sarmiento, all agreeing sufficiently closely to prove that precisely the same tradition had been handed down, with the same details, to their various informants. Similarly the details of the Chanca war and other principal events were preserved.
Sarmiento tells us how this was done on the highest authority. He examined thirty-two witnesses of the Inca family in 1571, and his first inquiry was respecting the way in which the memory of historical events was preserved. He was informed that the descendants of each sovereign formed an ayllu or family, whose duty it was to keep the records of the events of his reign. This was done by handing down the histories in the form of narratives and songs which the Amautas of each ​ayllu, specially trained for the duty, learnt by heart from generation to generation. They had help by means of the quipus, and also by the use of pictures painted on boards. These pictures, it was stated, were preserved with great care. But none have come down to us. Pictures are mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega, and there are entries in the recently discovered manuscript of Huaman Poma which make it almost certain that portraits of the Incas and their queens once existed. Huaman Poma gives clever pen-and-ink sketches of the Incas and Ccoyas, with a page of description for each. In the descriptions he not only gives an account of the personal appearance, but also mentions the colour of the tunic and mantle of each Inca, and of the acsu and lliclla of each Ccoya. Now this would be quite out of place for pen-and-ink sketches. It is, therefore, fairly certain that Huaman Poma alluded to coloured pictures, or to the tradition of them, and that such pictures were used to assist and confirm the traditions handed down in the ayllus, with the aid of the quipus. The preservation of the traditions and lists of the ancient kings, as well as of the historical events in the reigns of the Incas, were secured by these means. Sarmiento tells us that the most notable historical events were painted on great boards and deposited in the hall of the temple of the sun. Learned persons were appointed, who were well versed in the art of understanding and explaining them.
​The Peruvians appear to have been advanced in the study of geography and in the use of relief maps. The provinces were measured and surveyed, and the natural features were shown by means of these relief maps moulded in clay. They were used by the Incas for administrative purposes, and especially for deciding the destinations of colonists. Garcilasso de la Vega had the great advantage of seeing one of these relief maps. It was made of clay, with small stones and sticks, and was a model of the city of Cuzco, showing the four main roads. It was according to scale, and showed the squares and streets, and the streams, and the surrounding country with its hills and valleys. The Inca declares that it was well worthy of admiration, and that the best cosmographer in the world could not have done it better. It was constructed at Muyna, a few leagues south of Cuzco, where Garcilasso saw it.
There were Yacha Huasi, or schools, at Cuzco, said to have been founded by Inca Rocca, where youths were trained and instructed as Amautas and Quipucamayocs. The former were in close touch with the hierarchy, and were usually either priests or councillors of the sovereign. The Harahuecs, or bards, were also trained at these institutions.
The Runa-simi was nobly and abundantly used in preserving the origins and developments of Andean civilisation, although the want of knowledge ​of an alphabet and the Spanish cataclysm have only allowed that preservation, so complete when the end came, to reach us in scattered fragments. Probably the most ancient relic we possess is the mythical song given by Valera, and handed down to us by Garcilasso de la Vega. It is a fanciful idea, referring the noise of thunder to the shattering of a sister's bowl by a brother; a slight thing in itself, but showing the play of fancy in the imaginative minds of these people. Of equal antiquity are the prayers which have been preserved by Molina, and those hymns to the Supreme Being handed down to us by Salcamayhua. A pretty harvest song, a hunting song to accompany a dance, a love ditty, and a remarkable song supposed to be sung by a condemned man before execution, are undoubtedly ancient, for they are found in the manuscript of Huaman Poma. They throw much light on the simple character of the people, on their fancies and turns of thought. The love song is imaginative, and has some pretty fancies. There were many such songs in the collection of Dr. Justiniani, and some occur in the drama of Ollantay.
The most interesting and complete relic of Peruvian literature is the drama of Ollantay, over which there has been much controversy with reference to its antiquity. It was first made known through the account of it given in the 'Museo Erudito' of Cuzco, in 1837. In 1853 the present ​writer made search for the original text of the drama, and for the best sources of information. In those days an intelligent and learned scholar, Dr. Julian Ochoa, was Rector of the University of San Antonio Abad at Cuzco, and there also resided in the ancient city of the Incas a venerable lady who remembered the insurrection of Pumacagua, and whose intimate relations with the leading Indians of those times, and profound knowledge of the folklore and language of her countrymen, placed her in the first rank as an exponent of tradition. It was under the guidance of these two high authorities that the present writer conducted his researches.
They told him of the existence of a last descendant of the Incas, living in one of the most secluded valleys of the eastern Andes, and possessing the original text of the old Inca drama, and many other documents of interest. It was necessary to cross the lofty range of mountains which bounds the lovely vale of the Vilcamayu, to pass over grassy plateaux at a great elevation, where the sapphire blue of the small alpine lakes contrasted with the dark surfaces of the precipitous cliffs, and then to descend, by winding paths, into the secluded vale of Laris. Here there was a small church, a few huts, and a house consisting of buildings on two sides of a courtyard, with the church tower seen over the roof. Away in one direction there was a wooded glen of great depth, containing one small ​house built over a spring, which consists of medicinal waters of special virtue for various complaints. A small stream flowed down another ravine of wonderful beauty, with lofty mountains on either side. In those days the downward course of the river, called the Yanatilde, was unknown. Recently it has been explored, and found to be a tributary of the Vilcamayu.
Such was Laris, where the descendant of the Incas lived as cura of the parish, with his grandniece. His name was Dr. Pablo Justiniani, in direct descent from the Princess Maria Usca, married to Pedro Ortiz de Orue, the Encomendero of Maras. It will perhaps be remembered that Maras was the name of one of the tribes which followed the Ayars from Paccari-tampu. Dr. Justiniani was a very old man. He could remember the great rebellion of Tupac Amaru in 1782, and was a friend of Dr. Antonio Valdez, who reduced the drama of Ollantay to writing.
His house consisted of a long room opening on the courtyard, with small rooms at each end, and a kitchen in the other building. The furniture was a long table, some very old chairs, an inlaid cabinet, and two ancient chests. Round the walls hung ​portraits of all the Incas from Manco Ccapac to Tupac Amaru, including the Princess Maria Usca. Under the portrait of Tupac Amaru was the sentence in Quichua: 'O Lord! behold how my enemies shed my blood,' There were also the coats of arms of the Incas granted by the Emperor Charles V, of Ortiz de Orue, Gonzalez, Carbajal, and Justiniani.
The old cura talked of the drama of Ollantay, of Inca literature, and of the rebellions of Tupac Amaru and Pumacagua. His guest, in the intervals of copying manuscripts, took long rambles down the beautiful vale of Yanatilde, and rejoiced to see the friendly relations that existed between the old cura and his parishioners, who raised crops of potatoes and ocas, and kept flocks of llamas which found pasturage on the mountain slopes. Bright and full of conversation in the daytime, the old cura sometimes suffered from headaches in the evenings. His niece then stuck coca leaves all over his forehead, which drove away the pain, so that he literally enjoyed a green old age. This was before the discovery of the virtues of cocaine.
Out of the old cabinet, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and haliotis, Dr. Justiniani brought the pedigree showing his descent from the Incas, another pedigree showing his descent from the Emperor Justinian through the Genoese family, a volume of old Quichua songs, and the text of the drama of Ollantay. All these precious docu​ments were diligently copied. He gave me an account of the reduction of the drama to writing, and of the existing copies.
It will be well to quote what Garcilasso de la Vega and others say on the subject before giving the information received from Dr. Justiniani: 'The Amautas composed both tragedies and comedies, which were represented before the Inca and his court on solemn occasions. The subject matter of the tragedy related to military deeds and the victories of former times; while the arguments of the comedies were on agricultural and familiar household subjects. They understood the composition of long and short verses, with the right number of syllables in each. They did not use rhymes in the verses.' Salcamayhua also bears witness to the existence of the ancient drama, and gives the names for four different kinds of plays called Anay Sauca, a joyous representation, Hayachuca, Llama-llama, a farce, and Hanamsi, a tragedy. There is a clear proof that the memory of the old dramatic lore was preserved, and that the dramas were handed down by memory after the Spanish conquest. It is to be found in the sentence pronounced on the rebels at Cuzco, by the Judge Areche, in 1781. It prohibited 'the representation of dramas, as well as all other festivals which the Indians celebrated in memory of their Incas.'
There then can be no doubt that these Inca ​dramas had been handed down. Dr. Justiniani told me that the Ollantay play was put into writing by Dr. Don Antonio Valdez, the cura of Sicuani, from the mouths of Indians. He divided it into scenes, with a few stage directions, and it was acted before the unfortunate Tupac Amaru, a friend of Valdez, who headed an insurrection against the Spaniards in 1782. It would appear that Valdez was not the first to reduce the play to writing, for there is or was a version of 1735, and others dating from the previous century.
The father of Dr. Justiniani was a friend of Dr. Valdez, and he made a copy of that learned Quichua scholar's manuscript. This is the one which I copied. Dr. Valdez died in 1816, and in 1853 the original Valdez manuscript was possessed by his nephew and heir, Don Narciso Cuentas of Tinta. I ascertained the existence of another copy in the possession of Dr. Rosas, the cura of Chinchero, and there was another in the monastery of San Domingo at Cuzco, which was nearly illegible from damp. But the literature on the subject of the drama of Ollantay is extensive.
The period of the drama is during the reigns of the Inca Pachacuti and his son Tupac Yupanqui. The hero is a warrior named Apu Ollantay, who was Viceroy of the province of Anti-suyu. Though ​not of the blood-royal, this young nobleman entertained a sacrilegious love for a daughter of the Inca named Cusi Coyllur, or the 'joyful star.' The play opens with a dialogue between Ollantay and his servant Piqui Chaqui, a witty and facetious lad whose punning sallies form the comic vein which runs through the piece. Their talk is of Ollantay's love for the princess, and to them enters the High Priest of the Sun, who, by performing a miracle, endeavours to dissuade the audacious warrior from his forbidden love.
In the second scene the princess herself laments to her mother the absence of Ollantay. The Inca Pachacuti enters, and expresses warm affection for his child. Two songs are introduced, the first being a harvest song with a chorus threatening the birds that rob the corn, and the second a mournful love elegy.
The lover presses his suit upon the Inca in the third scene, and is scornfully repulsed. He bursts out into open defiance in a soliloquy of great force. Then there is an amusing dialogue with Piqui Chaqui, and another love song concludes the act. Ollantay collects an army of Antis, and occupies the impregnable fortress in the valley of the Vilcamayu, since called Ollantay-tampu, accompanied by two other chiefs named Urco Huaranca and Hanco Huayllu. Meanwhile Cusi Coyllur gave birth to a female child named Yma Sumac (How beautiful), a crime for which she was immured in a dungeon by her enraged father, the Inca Pachacuti. ​The child is brought up in the same building, without being aware of the existence of her mother.
Ollantay-tampu, at the entrance of a ravine descending to the valley of the Vilcamayu, rises amidst scenery of indescribable loveliness. The mountain of the principal ruins is very lofty and in the form of a sugar loaf, but with narrow plateaux breaking the steep slope, and giving room for the buildings. There is now little left, and their unusual arrangement, which was made a necessity by the peculiarity and narrowness of the sites, makes it difficult to comprehend the original plan. Moreover the ruins are of different periods, some certainly belonging to the megalithic age.
Ollantay-tampu was the fortress defending the sacred valley from the incursions of wild tribes from the north. It is the most interesting ruin in Peru, whether from an historical or a legendary point of view. It was the scene of this famous Inca drama, and here the gallant young Inca Manco repulsed the attack of the Spaniards under Hernando Pizarro.
A fairly wide ravine, called Marca-cocha, descends from the heights of the Andes to the Vilcamayu valley, and at its entrance two lofty mountains rise on either side, with the little town of Ollantay-tampu between them. A steep path leads up, for 300 feet, to the first small plateau covered with ruins. On this little level space there are five immense stone slabs, upright against ​the mountain side. They stand endways, twelve feet high, united by small smooth pieces fitted between them. At their bases there are other blocks of huge dimensions, one fifteen feet long. I believe this to have been the great hall of the fortified palace of Ollantay. A stone staircase leads down to a small plateau, which was another part of the interior.
Immediately below these plateaux there is a very remarkable terrace, with a wall of polygonal stones fitting exactly into each other, the lower course formed of blocks of immense size. In the wall there are nine recesses, 2 ft. 2 ins. high by 1 ft. 4 ins. by 1 ft. 1 in. deep, to hold the household gods. At the further end the terrace is approached by a handsome doorway with a monolithic lintel, the side of immense stones sloping slightly inwards. A long staircase, hewn out of the solid rock, leads down. This doorway and terrace were the chief entrance and vestibule of the palace. Below the terrace there is a succession of well-constructed andeneria, or cultivated terraces, sixteen deep, descending to the valley. They would have supplied the garrison with provisions.
Beyond the second plateau, which I believe to have been an interior, there is an open space which formed a court in front of the palace, and extended to the brink of a precipice which is partly revetted with masonry, whence there is a lovely view over the valleys. High up, above the palace, was the Inti-huatana, or circle and pillar for observing the ​equinox, like that which was formerly in the Inti-pampa at Cuzco.
About half a mile up the Marca-cocha ravine the cliff becomes perpendicular, and here giant seats have been excavated, having canopies and steps up to them, with connecting galleries, all hewn out of the solid rocks. One is called Ñusta-tiana (the princess's seat), the other Inca-misana, from its resemblance to an altar. On the road from the quarry there are two hewn stones called the saycusca rumi-cuna (tired stones). One is 9 ft. 8 ins. by 7 ft. 8 ins., the other 20 ft. by 15 ft. by 3 ft. 6 ins. The excavations, the tired stones, and parts of the ruins date from the megalithic age. The rest may be of the period of Ollantay.
* ↑ Caca has a meaning quite different from Ccaca, the latter representing a stronger guttural. Tanta and ttanta, pacha and ppacha have very different meanings.
* ↑ He refers to the quipus of Cuzco, Caxamarca, Quito, Huamachuco, Pachacamac, Chincha, Sacsahuaman, Cunti-suyu and Colla-suyu, and to those in the possession of Luis and Francisco Yutu Inca and Juan Hualpa Inca, as his authorities.
* ↑ Skirt.
* ↑ Mantle.
* ↑ Sarmiento, p. 120.
* ↑ By Don Manuel Palacios; Nos. 5 to 9, reproduced by Dr. Don Pio Mesa in his Anales del Cuzco.
* ↑ Afterwards Bishop of Cuzco.
* ↑ Maria Usca was the daughter of the Inca Manco, and granddaughter of Huayna Ccapac. Her brothers were the three last Incas – Sayri Tupac, Cusi Titu Yupanqui, and Tupac Amaru, Her daughter, Catalina Ortiz de Orue, married Don Luis Justiniani, the great-great-grandfather of Dr. Don Pablo Policarpo Justiniani, cura of Laris. One of Dr. Don Pablo's great-great-grandmothers was of the ayllu of the great Inca, Tupac Yupanqui.
* ↑ In this Garcilasso was mistaken. They occasionally used rhymes.
* ↑ Von Tschudi.
* ↑ The name of Ollantay occurs in the list of witnesses who were examined, by order of the Viceroy Toledo, respecting the history of the Incas. He belonged to the Antasayac ayllu. I have not met with it in any other place.
LARGE MONOLITH ON CITADEL OF OLLANTAY-TAMPU
UPPER TERRACE ON CITADEL OF OLLANTAY-TAMPU
​The second act finds Ollantay in open rebellion, and fully established in this wonderful palace, where he was engaged in building and fortifying for several years. The name may be either from the drama or from an actual event handed down by tradition, but most of the early writers only call the fortress 'Tampu' without any prefix. Molina and Salcamayhua have the complete name, Ollantay-tampu. The second act opens with Ollantay in his stronghold, hailed as Inca by his followers. In the next scene Yma Sumac, the child of Ollantay and Cusi Coyllur, who had been brought up without being aware of her mother's existence, is conversing with her attendant, Pitu Salla. The girl tells of the groans and sighs she has heard, when she has been walking in the ​garden, and of the strange feelings with which they fill her mind. Her speech is the finest passage in the play. There is an amusing dialogue between Rumi-ñaui, the general of Colla-suyu, and the scapegrace Piqui Chaqui, in the third scene, during which the death of the Inca Pachacuti is announced. He was succeeded by his son Tupac Yupanqui, who had been absent for many years, engaged in conquests, and is supposed to have been imperfectly informed of the events that had taken place round Cuzco. The new Inca gave the command of an army to Rumi-ñaui, with the duty of reducing the rebel forces under Ollantay to subjection.
In the last act Rumi-ñaui adopted a cunning stratagem. Concealing his army in the neighbouring ravine of Yana-huara, he came to the stronghold of the rebels, and appeared before Ollantay with his face covered with blood. He declared that he had been ill-treated by the Inca, and that he wished to join the insurrection. With regard to this incident, it is recorded that, in 1837, an Indian presented to Don Antonio Maria Alvarez, the political chief of Cuzco, an earthen vase with a face moulded on it. The portrait must have been that ​of a general, from the mascapaycha, or head-dress, and there were cuts on the face. The Indian declared that it had been handed down in his family, from generation to generation, as the likeness of the general Rumi-ñaui.
Rumi-ñaui was received as an old friend and companion by Ollantay. A few days afterwards the great festival of Intip Raymi was celebrated. Rumi-ñaui encouraged the drunken orgies, keeping sober himself, and when all were heavy with liquor he opened the gates to admit his own men, and made prisoners of Ollantay and all his followers.
In the next scene there is a touching dialogue between Yma Sumac and Pitu Salla, which ends in the child being allowed to visit her mother in the dungeon.
The successful stratagem of Rumi-ñaui is reported to the Inca, in the next scene, by a messenger. Ollantay and his companions are then brought in as prisoners by the victorious general, who recommends that they should be put to death. But the magnanimous Inca not only pardons them, but restores Ollantay to all his honours. In the midst of the ceremonies' of reconciliation, the child Yma Sumac bursts into the presence and entreats the Inca to save the life of his sister and her mother. All proceed to the dungeon of Cusi Coyllur, who is supposed to have been long since dead. The unfortunate princess ​is restored to the arms of her lover, and they receive the blessing of their sovereign.
The drama of Ollantay is not alone in allowing a romantic passion to transgress the usages of the Inca court. We have another instance in the loves of Quilacu and Curi Coyllur, which are told in a subsequent chapter, and another given by Morua, in the love of the Princess Chuqui-llantu for the shepherd-boy Acoya-napa. It is most fortunate that this ancient drama has been preserved through having been reduced to writing by an appreciative scholar. The Inca Indians had a remarkable aptitude for dramatic representation, of which the Spanish priests took advantage. They collected Inca dramatic traditions and songs and compiled religious plays from them, in imitation of the Autos Sacramentales then in vogue. Garcilasso de la Vega mentions these religious plays, and adds that the 'Indian lads repeated the dialogues with so much grace, feeling, and correct action, that they gave universal satisfaction and pleasure, and with so much plaintive softness in the songs, that the audience shed tears of joy at seeing their skill and ability.'
I have two of these plays in my possession, written in the Quichua language. One was arranged by Dr. Lunarejo, a native of Cuzco and a celebrated Quichua scholar of the eighteenth century; but the date is 1707, before his time. It is entitled ' El pobre mas rico,' and was acted ​by Indians at Cuzco, where the scene is laid, in the days of the Incas. The dramatis personæ are:
| Nina Quiru Inca Yauri Titu Inca Amaru Inca Quespillo (a droll) | Cora Siclla Ñusta Cora Umina Ñusta An Angel Demons. |
The other Quichua drama, entitled 'Usca Paucar,' is more ancient, and was given to me by Dr. Julian Ochoa of Cuzco; but it is strictly an Auto Sacramental. The dramatis personæ are:
| Usca Paucar Quespillo (a droll) Luzvel Yuncanina | Choque Apu (an old man) Ccori-ttica An Angel. |
I also have copies of twenty songs from the collection of Dr. Justiniani, and several others received from Quichua scholars in Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno. Nearly all are love songs, a few bright and cheerful, but the majority are elegies breathing sorrow and despair.
The Incas were able to preserve the pedigrees and events of the reigns of sovereigns for many generations, by the means that have been described. In their dramas and songs they had made great advances in the poetic art, not only using verses to give expression to the passions of love and despair, but also to preserve fanciful myths and legends. In astronomy their knowledge sufficed to fix the periods of the solar year. The Amautas also had ​an extensive knowledge of the use of medicinal herbs and roots, and their advances in surgery are attested by the discovery of skulls at Yucay and elsewhere on which the trepanning operation has been performed. They used infusions of several herbs as purgatives and stomachics, as well as the root of a convolvulus; other herbs were used for colds and pulmonary complaints, and salves were used, consisting of leaves and seeds of certain plants dried, pounded, and mixed with lard, some for wounds, others for rheumatism. For fevers they used several tonics, including a gentian. The chinchona plant was certainly used locally as a febrifuge, but not, I think, universally. In the Loxa province the bark was used, and known as Quina-quina. In the forests of Caravaya an infusion of the Chinchona flowers was given for ague, and called Yara chucchu. The name of calisaya, the species richest in quinine, is derived from two Quichua words: Ccali, strong, and sayay, to stand.
From time immemorial men of a tribe called Collahuaya or Charasani, from Upper Peru, have collected medicinal herbs and roots, and, as itinerant doctors, have carried them all over the empire of the Incas. I have collected all the names of medicinal herbs and roots from ancient authors, especially Cobos. I have also received information on the same subjects from people with whom I came in contact who were likely to know the herbs now used by the Indians; and I have examined the bags of the Collahuayas at Lampa and other ​places. It is an interesting fact that many of the remedies mentioned by ancient writers are still to be found in the bags of modern itinerant doctors. The Inca Garcilasso says that his mother's people used many medicinal plants, but he had forgotten their names. He, however, mentions the extraordinary effects of one called matecllu, which are described in the chapter on the Inca's life at page 268.
* ↑ In the Museo Erudito a doubt is thrown on the authenticity of the drama because Pachacuti is said to have been succeeded by Tupac Yupanqui; for Garcilasso de la Vega places an Inca Yupanqui between Pachacuti and Tupac Yupanqui. At that time Garcilasso was accepted as the best authority. But it has since been proved that Garcilasso was mistaken, and that Tupac Yupanqui was the son and successor of Pachacuti, so that what seemed to be an argument against the authenticity of the drama has become an argument in its favour.
* ↑ Museo Erudito, No. 5.
* ↑ See p. 244.