The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-16 00:00:00

ETHNOLOGICA L SOCIETY.-PERU.

On Wednesday evening a paper was read before this
society by Wm. Bollaert, Esq., F.R.G.S., "On the
Incas of Peru, the Indians of South Peru, and on some
Indian remains in the province of Tarapaca.
The origin of the term Peru is involved in obscurity, it
may be derived from Biru, the name of a river; the an-
cient inhabitants of Quito.were called Puru-ayes. The
author stated that the word Inca was probably derived
from Inti, the sun, but that the language of the first
Incas 'appear to be lost, and, moreover, that the Incas
adopted the language of one of the nations they con-
quered, namely, the Qiiichna. The shores of Peru have
yielded, since 1838, more than half a million.tons of
guano, and in the South, the province of Tarapaca has
exported, since 1831, more than 250,000 tons of nitrate
of soda. In the same district, a new boracic acid mineral
has been discovered. The author alluded in particulr to
the cyclopean ruins of Ila-Huanien 12,900 feet above the
sea, scuth of Lake Titicaca, and which were of a period
long before that of the Incas. Mr. Bollaert, con-
sidered the year A.D. -1109, to be about that of the com-
mencement of the reign of Manco Capac, and the death of
Atahualpa is put down in 1533, and he stated that it
was generally agreed upon that the peopling of the New '
World had been from Asia, !principally ; but at a very
early period indeed. The author., gave particulars of I
several traditions concerning the origin of the Incas,
their history, conquests, and architectural works, &c.
Mr. Bollaert. mentioned that on the landing of Pizzaro,
the Peruvians had attained a high degree of civilisation,
much higher than any other prior to the use of gi aphic
records. He noticed the existence of roads 500 leagues
in length, causeways through morasses, ruins of numer-
ous frontier fortresses, palaces, winter palaces with their
gardens and fountains, baths, quarries, mausolean
towers, swinging and floating bridges, open and subter-
ranean aqueducts and other works furnish, whether in
ruins or converted by the Spaniards into barracks or
monasteries, evidences of the taste, power, and opulence
of the Incas, and vastness of the population. The
Quichaa and. Aymara languages were those mostly
spoken in Peru, originally oral, were learnt by the
Spaniards, and made by them to follow the Greek
and Latin construction. The author had opened
many tombs or huacas, and although a few of the
skulls found within appeared somewhat elon-
gated, the greater number were not so, and he thought
that when skulls had been found of any peculiar form,
such had been caused by artificial means, a practice com-
mon among some of the Peruvian Indians as late as the
16th century. In the huacas, the mummies placed in a
sitting position, were often found images of gold and
silver, pottery, arms, tools, fishing implements, mirrors
of silver and polished stone, hatchets of copper, dried
fruits, maize, shell fossil bones of animals, &c. Some
curious Indian pictography was described as existing in
the province of Tarapaca, produced by scooping out
lines in soft ground, twelve to eighteen inches broad and
six deep, representing men, women, llamas, dogs, circles,
squares, and other forms, some of the figures being
twenty to thirty feet high. Indian pictography, sym-
bolic and representative devices, are common to th
nations of the New World. In North America they
are cut in rocks, trees, or painted on skins.
At a high pass, called Pacheta, in theAndesof Tara-
paca,. where there is a pile of stones, the Indian
distance, w lo
goes by there will bring a stone, even from a
in order to add another to the pile, Thesend other piles of stones
a
are not uncommon in the Andesparts of
South America. Pacheta comes from theQuichnah?r
Apachitas, meaning a pile of stones, and were adored.
word,
Apachitas,
The Indian who had surmounted a difficult hill, and ar-
rived at the pass, was thankful to Pacha-cawak, and
cried out "Apacherta," or to Him who has given me
strength.