The old and the new Peru

The historian of the Conquerors who described the newly discovered Peru as “the Ophir of the Occident” gave it a name which modern research proves to have been singularly appropriate. Not only in wealth, but in antiquity, this interesting country is comparable to the fabled land of the East from which the emissaries of King Solomon brought so many luxuries to please the taste of their royal master. There are eminent writers and students of the records of ancient times who are of the opinion that the famous Ophir of the Bible was no other than ancient Peru, and that the Phœnicians—those intrepid navigators of past ages—visited its shores and were the founders of its earliest civilization.

But speculation as to the origin of the ancient Peruvians covers such an extensive field that almost every writer on the subject has a distinct opinion; and every nation of the Orient has been supposed, by one authority or another, to have laid the foundation of Peruvian culture. The most popular theory gives to China the credit of introducing the earliest civilization on the American continent; and in support of this belief many parallels are drawn between the Mongolians and the primitive races of the New World in their traditions, customs, and, particularly, the similarity of their features. In some parts of the coast district of Peru, the indigenes do not speak Quichua, as do the descendants of the Incas’ people, but have a language which is said to be easily understood by the Chinese; and there is, apparently, a close analogy between the ancient creeds of the coast Indians and Chinese worship. According to several authorities, the traditional heroes of Peruvian and Mexican civilization were Buddhist priests. In this connection it is worthy of mention that some of the huacas which have been taken from ancient cemeteries on the coast, bear a marked resemblance to the well-known idols of Buddhist worship. The name huaca is given to all consecrated relics in these ancient burials, including the corpse and its wrappings, as well as the innumerable articles of household and personal use, ornaments and food, interred therewith. The custom of placing maize and other edibles in the grave, and (as has been found in some cases) of putting a coin in the mouth of the deceased, affords proof that these ancients believed in a future life. Most of the interments were made in huge mounds, called huacas, built of sun-dried bricks, or, in the earliest periods, of round balls of mud.

From whatever source Peru derived its earliest culture, everything indicates that at some period, probably at various times during the early ages, immigrants arrived in the country from Asiatic shores. The most eminent authorities, among them the Peruvian scholars Dr. Pablo Patron, Dr. Larrabure y Unanue, and others who have made a scientific study of the antiquity of their country, agree in the belief that there were several early immigrations to Peru from China and Japan. A few even accept the theory that the origin of the advanced races who first peopled the ancient world of the West is to be traced to a lost “Atlantis” and a submerged “Lemuria,” supposed to have been great continents in a past age, whose inhabitants, rivalling the ancient Egyptians in culture, lived in close communication with America, and gave it the basis of its earliest civilization. Conservative scholars are disposed to give little attention to purely speculative theories, and prefer to seek the solution of the problem by the most practical methods.

It is to the honor of Peru that the government, recognizing the importance of exploring its great treasure-store of antiquities in the interest of modern knowledge, is directing a systematic effort to penetrate the veil of mystery which envelopes the remote past of the country and its people. Dr. Max Uhle, an eminent authority on Peruvian archæology, is now occupied in the work of excavating and classifying Peruvian antiquities in accordance with modern scientific methods. The facts so far accumulated from reliable archæological data point to an antiquity of at least three thousand years, and may indicate a much more remote period of culture.

Long ages before the New World was discovered by Europeans, and centuries before the Incas established their wonderful empire, Peru was the home of a mighty race, or of successive races, whose dominion extended at some time over a great part of tropical America. The records of their advancement still exist in the stupendous ruins of their sacred temples and in the objects of art and evidences of culture found in their burial mounds.

Like the various nations of the Orient, these ancients of the New World had their ambitious struggles for supremacy one against another, their periods of great prosperity and power,—sometimes arriving at the height of despotic rule over all contemporaries,—and their time of decline before the ascendancy of a more potent rival. The record of changes wrought in successive periods, and of influences resulting from communication between the inhabitants of widely separated regions, is written in their monuments and in the huacas of their cemeteries, and furnishes the key to the chronology of prehistoric Peru, possibly to all American antiquity.

Interesting ruins abound in every part of Peru, from the environs of the capital to the most remote districts of the frontier. Within a few hours’ ride of Lima are situated the ancient necropolis of Ancón and the temple of Pachacámac, where recent excavations have brought to light many interesting prehistoric relics. In no other land do the same conditions exist as in Peru, where the archæologist has advantages in the pursuit of his investigations which the countries of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Greeks do not afford. Here it is possible to study, at first hand, many of the customs that prevailed long before the advent of the Spaniards, as they are still practised in the sierra, where the same feast days have been observed from time immemorial, the same methods of spinning and weaving are followed to-day as in prehistoric ages, the picturesque and brilliantly colored costumes of their ancestors are yet in vogue among the indigenes, and even a few of the wonderful dyes, which excel in permanence those of the best European markets, are made to-day by these children of an ancient race, as they were by their forefathers in centuries past.

The most ancient civilization in Peru of which traces have been found up to the present time was developed in the coast region, around Nasca and Ica in the southern district and near Trujillo in the north; and the traveller whose interest in antiquities induces him to pay a visit to this country can see some of the most remarkable ruins on the American continent without the inconvenience of making a long and fatiguing overland journey, as the ocean steamers of the South Pacific call at ports in the immediate neighborhood of extensive ruins of prehistoric cities. Along the coast may also be seen shell mounds and other fragments of a primitive age, showing that in a very remote period the inhabitants subsisted almost entirely on sea food; though nothing has been found to indicate that these people were in any way related to the races that attained, at a later date, such a high degree of culture as that represented in the monuments, potteries, and particularly in the textiles, of Nasca, Pachacámac, and Trujillo. The textiles of ancient Peru are marvellous in quality, design, and coloring, and are the especial delight and admiration of the archæologist.

Pachacámac, situated about twenty-five miles south of Lima, in the valley of Lurin, overlooking the sea, is, in some respects, the most interesting prehistoric monument of Peru. Nearly all travellers who visit Lima spend a day among these crumbling walls and burial mounds. The first part of the journey to Pachacámac lies across the Rimac valley, which is itself famous in ancient legends as the site of a wonderful temple dedicated to the oracle “Rimac,” the name signifying “one who speaks.” The remains of this great edifice—once almost as celebrated for splendor and riches as that of Pachacámac—are still to be seen just outside of Lima. Between the valleys of Rimac and Lurin, a desert waste of sand extends, known as the Tablada de Lurin; it is a welcome relief when this part of the ride is over and the green meadows of Lurin appear in view, though even the desert has its unspeakable charm. Several hills rise two or three hundred feet above the level of the desert, and among these hills the ancient city of Pachacámac was located. The area within the outer walls that enclose the ruins measures nearly three miles in length by two in breadth, the chief interest being centred in the space occupied by the walls of the temple erected to the god Pachacámac. It was while excavating in these ruins a few years ago that Dr. Uhle made the discoveries which laid the foundation for a new classification of Peruvian antiquities, in accordance with the evidences of successive periods of culture. Previous to that time, all the objects taken from Peruvian cemeteries and placed on exhibition in the museums of Europe and North America, were arranged in a manner to give the impression that they represented various phases of one continuous period of culture. Carved monoliths, mummies, and vessels of gold, silver, and pottery, were disposed of with no more definite clue to their origin than was afforded by a statement of the locality from which they had been taken and the circumstances and date of their excavation. A scientific exploration of the ruins of Pachacámac has revealed the fact that its great temple outlasted several successive ages of culture, and that its other edifices were constructed at later periods, the Incas having built a Temple of the Sun and a convent for the Virgins of the Sun close to the ancient shrine of Pachacámac, whose name signifies “The Creator of the World.” The temple of the “Creator God” has undergone many changes. Excavations show that the original edifice was destroyed long centuries ago, whether by earthquake or in a mighty conflict with a rival people is not known, and that a cemetery at its base was buried in the débris. A larger temple was afterward erected on the same site, immediately over the earlier edifice, the terraces of the later structure covering the débris under which the older cemetery was located. The burial place of the larger temple, as well as that of the original building, was found to be filled with graves, the worshippers of Pachacámac having come to this shrine as the Mohammedans flocked to Mecca centuries later, feeling that they had gained the greatest of all blessings if they could but be buried within the sacred city. It is estimated that thirty thousand of the faithful were interred in the cemetery of Pachacámac. An examination of the huacas found in the various strata of these ruins shows the influence of five separate periods on the culture of this region, and has enabled the archæologist to determine the antiquity of Pachacámac relative to that of other ancient ruins, such as those of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia and the more recent edifices of Incaic origin. It is regarded as certain that the oldest temple of Pachacámac represents an earlier period than does Tiahuanaco, though the latter antedates by many centuries the monuments of Inca civilization. The art displayed in the shape and design of some of the vessels taken from the cemetery of Pachacámac bears a resemblance, in the earlier period, to that seen in the huacas of Tiahuanaco, and, in its latest expression, to the art of the Incaic civilization; this would seem to indicate that at least three successive cultures dominated the whole of ancient Peru, with long periods of transition intervening, when the country was divided and governed by numerous races of more or less advanced culture.

Why did the ancient Peruvians choose, as the site of one of their greatest temples, a strip of arid plain, when a vast region lay before them, presenting every variety of blessing which a bountiful Nature and beneficent Providence could bestow upon a favored land? This question is suggested not only as one contemplates the ruins of Pachacámac, but also in the presence of the temple and monoliths of Tiahuanaco. Was it that fear was the directing impulse, and a desire to propitiate an evil deity was stronger than the inspiration to adore a beneficent and beloved creator? In a land of snow-capped mountains, unfathomable cañons, and varied climate, where stupendous evidences of an omnipotent power were constantly present to impress the imagination of a primitive people, and the changes wrought by Nature were sometimes sudden and disastrous, as in the case of earthquakes and tidal waves, it is not strange that, as is seen in India, where similar conditions prevailed, the dawning intelligence of a primitive race was apparently dominated by fear rather than love in the exercise of its religion. An explanation of the choice of locality for the temple of Pachacámac is afforded by the following legend, the origin of which is said to be very ancient. The distinguished author of the archæological treatise Pachacámac relates the story: “In the beginning of the world there was no food for a man and a woman whom the god Pachacámac had created. The man starved, but the woman survived. One day, as she was searching among the thorn bushes for roots with which to stay her hunger, she lifted up her eyes to the sun and with tears and lamentation cried: ‘Beloved Creator of all things! Why hast thou brought me into the light of this world if I am to die of hunger and want? Oh, that thou hadst not created me out of nothing, or hadst suffered me to die immediately on entering the world, instead of leaving me alone in it without children to succeed me, poor, cast down, and sorrowful! Why, O Sun, having created us, why wilt thou let us perish? And if thou art the Giver of Light, why art thou so niggardly as to refuse me my nourishment? Thou hast no pity and heedst not the sorrow of those whom thou hast created only to their misery. Cause heaven to slay me with lightning or earth to swallow me, or give me food, for thou, Almighty One, hast made me!’ The sun, touched with pity, descended to her and bade her give up her fears and hope for comfort, for she would soon be delivered from the cause of her trouble. One day, while she was wearily searching for roots, she became impregnated with his rays and bore a son after four days. But Pachacámac, who was the son of the Sun, was angry with the woman for having worshipped his father and for having borne him a son in defiance of himself; he seized the newborn demigod and cut him to pieces. In order, however, that the woman should not suffer for lack of food, he sowed the dismembered parts of the boy, and the harvest was a bountiful one; from the teeth grew corn; from the ribs and bones sprang the yucca and other roots; from the flesh appeared vegetables and fruits. Since that time, men have known no more want, and they owe this abundance of food to Pachacámac. But the mother mourned for her child and appealed again to the Sun. Again the Sun was moved to pity and he commanded her to bring him the umbilical cord of the murdered child; into it he put life, and gave her another son, whom she called Wichama, who grew strong and powerful and, when a young man, set out to travel like his father, the Sun. But as soon as Wichama left his mother, Pachacámac slew her and caused the birds to devour her, all but the hair and bones, which he concealed near the shore. Then Pachacámac created men and women who were to take possession of the earth, and he set up Curacas and Caciques to rule over them. But when Wichama, returning, found that his mother had been slain, he was in a terrible rage, and commanded her bones to be brought to him; these he joined together and he brought her back to life. The two then planned revenge against Pachacámac, who, rather than struggle with his second brother, threw himself into the sea from the spot where his temple now stands. When Wichama saw his enemy escape from him, he was in a fury of rage and with the breath of his nostrils he set fire to the air and scorched the fields. He accused the inhabitants of having aided Pachacámac and besought his father to turn them to stone. His request was granted, but both the Sun and Wichama repented of this terrible deed, and caused the petrified Curacas and Caciques to be set up and worshipped, some on the shore and others in the sea, where they still stand as rocks and reefs.” The same authority interprets the story as a myth of the Seasons, describing the phenomena of nature, as annually repeated in the climate of the coast land. The description of climatic conditions shows, as the most characteristic feature, the annually repeated struggle of the vegetation of the valley, which depends entirely on artificial irrigation, against the scorching heat of the sun. The former is personified in the god Pachacámac. The Sun, with whom Pachacámac carries on his struggle, represents the solar year; the first solar son, whom Pachacámac kills, represents possibly the spring sun before the rising of the highland rivers, when the season of fruitfulness begins; the scattering of the teeth and bones of the murdered son produces the fertility of the soil. The woman who bears a son to the Sun god is the year; from a needy but toil-free life in the wilderness, Pachacámac leads her to a life of care and toil, such as cultivation of the fields requires; still grieving over the death of her first son, she is given Wichama, the autumn and winter Sun, with whom Pachacámac enters into a struggle. The woman grows old as does the year; Pachacámac kills her—as the year ends with the harvest. After the ingathering of the harvest and the autumnal decrease of the rivers, Pachacámac is unable to resume the struggle; his flight into the ocean to escape Wichama corresponds to the protecting cover of dense fogs which every winter overspread the parched fields. The Sun hero wreaks his vengeance on the fields of the fog region which even in winter are exposed to the arid sun.

Mythical legends are related of three principal deities that were worshipped by the ancient Peruvians. Of these, an important place is given to the great god Con, who, according to tradition, was invisible, possessing “no bones, nerves, or extremities,” and who “travelled with the swiftness of spirits.” He levelled the sierras, filled up the cañons, and covered the earth with fruits and everything necessary for the sustenance of men and women, so that they might enjoy abundance. But, unappreciative of their blessings, the people of the coast gave themselves up to all manner of evil and forgot their benefactor. Con, indignant over their corruption, transformed them into black cats and other ill-favored animals, denied them the blessing of rain, and changed their happy and fruitful land into an arid desert. According to the same legend, Pachacámac, restored fertility to the earth and created a new race of men, the ancestors of the present Indians. Besides Con and Pachacámac, there was also the mighty Viracocha, the god of the deluge, who rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca, made the heavens and the earth, and, before creating the light of day, peopled the earth with its first inhabitants. These were afterward changed to stone because of their disobedience; but in order that the darkness should disappear and Peru be peopled, Viracocha appeared again—this time with followers—and created the sun and the stars and formed models of the future Peruvians; the images, representing men, women, and children, he distributed throughout the different provinces. He then sent his followers to the different regions to animate these models, which was done by the invocation, “Arise and people this earth, which is barren and solitary! Thus commands Viracocha, who is the creator of the world!” In response to these words the images became possessed of life and appeared on the mountains, in the valleys, beside the rivers, everywhere. A few beings, created to fulfil a special destiny, were animated by Viracocha himself, and as soon as they recognized their creator, they erected a temple of worship in his honor. The Spanish historian, Sebastian Lorente, who relates the legends of Con, Pachacámac, and Viracocha in his interesting and valuable work on Peru, impressed by the evident relation existing between the three great deities, infers that in ancient Peru there were three principal centres of population and culture,—the coast, the sierra, and the Titicaca plateau. These centres did not arrive at the height of their power contemporaneously, nor were they necessarily related to one another, though the influence of each one is seen, in some degree, in the development of all three. A distinct, and undoubtedly a very ancient, architecture prevails in the temples, palaces, and pyramids of the coast, unidentified either with that of the interior valleys or of the high plateau. The magnificent ruins of Chimu culture, as seen in the great walls of Chan-Chan, which measure from twenty to thirty feet in height, and show wonderful designs and stucco work on their surface, as well as the monuments of an earlier people, as seen at Huaca del Sol, near Moche, and the temple Pachacámac, are of a different character from the edifices of Huánuco Viejo in the sierra, of Sacsahuaman at Cuzco, and of the pillars and round tower (Pelasgian style) in Puno; while these latter ruins bear little relation in construction to the cyclopean edifices of Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia, the centre of what is sometimes called the Aymará culture.

Aside from their scientific importance, the antiquities of Peru are interesting to travellers because they have many features that appeal to one’s imagination and love of mystery. They lie out of the beaten track of the sightseer, who journeys annually, guide-book in hand, to gaze on the ruins of their Egyptian and Pelasgian contemporaries in the Old World. But they possess the greater fascination of the unsolved problem, made doubly attractive by apparently innumerable “clues,” which stimulate the imagination and tempt one to construct independent theories as to their origin and antiquity. Karnak and the Pyramids may be no more ancient than Nasca; certainly the Sphinx is not nearly so great an enigma as are the huacas of Trujillo and Ancón cemeteries; and there is nothing in Oriental antiquities that quite resembles the mummies taken out of one of these mysterious burial mounds.

The method of preparing the ancient Peruvian corpse for burial was unique, though it cannot be couriered artistic, as, at first sight, the huaca looks like a large sack well filled and bound around with a network of ropes. The process of unwrapping, which is a long one, reveals the corpse in a sitting posture, with the arms clasping the knees and the head bent over. Sometimes the swathings are of finely woven vicuña cloth, and ornaments of gold and silver are hung on the corpse, beautiful and costly vases and various other articles of value being placed beside it. From a study of these articles it has been possible to learn, to some extent, what the mode of life was among these ancient people, and many of the huacas have furnished data of the greatest importance. Fine textiles, woven in curious designs, are found in most of the cemeteries; but in those of greatest antiquity no textiles appear, and this fact affords a clue to their great age also, as buried textiles have been found to outlast periods of fifteen hundred years. The nitrous nature of the soil in which these burials have taken place accounts for the wonderful preservation of the mummies, which are really desiccated corpses. The burial of the poor was a simple ceremony and in some cases consisted merely in depositing the corpse in a grave in the sand; though, always, the treasures of the departed were placed beside them, and it is not unusual to find tools, household utensils, and articles of personal adornment scattered over the arid fields. The great plain of Chimu, near Trujillo, which covers a territory twelve miles long by six miles broad on the northern bank of the Moche River, and which was so rich in buried treasure when the Spaniards first began to plunder its temple, palaces, and burial ground, that the king’s fifth of the gold taken out amounted, in 1576, to ten thousand ounces, is literally strewn with human skulls, pieces of pottery, and other huacas. The cemetery of Ancón has apparently inexhaustible treasures, and excursion parties seldom return to Lima after a visit to its graves without bringing trophies of their outing in the form of prehistoric relics.

The contemplation of the ancient ruins of Peru stirs the imagination and brings before the mental vision pictures of these people of a forgotten past, with many fanciful ideas of their appearance and their origin, of the lives they led, the religion they practised, and the predominating social features of their civilization. Were they “a white and bearded race” as some of the legends tell? Or did the natives emerge out of barbarism and advance in culture, at first, unaided by outside influences? Were the conditions in ancient Peru as favorable for the evolution of human culture as those of ancient India and Egypt? One would like to know, in reference to the ancient edifices, whose crumbling ruins are still wonderful after the lapse of ages, who built them, and what the elaborate picture writings on their walls mean to tell us. It is said that the pre-Incaic people used hieroglyphics, but that the knowledge of this art was lost or prohibited by the Incas. Their civilization also gives evidence, in the ornamented pottery, the carvings of intricate design, and the fine workmanship of their gold and silver vessels, that its art surpassed, in technique and imagination, the productions of later prehistoric periods. In the earliest ages two closely related civilizations existed in the coast region of Peru, one of them centred around Trujillo and the other in the vicinity of Nasca and Ica, and, fine as they were, there is nothing similar to them in later cultures. The southern form is especially notable for the perfection of shape and decoration of its pottery, the freedom and breadth of its style; while the northern form is more distinguished by the harmony and greatness of its development. Gold, silver, and copper abounded and were wrought into manifold shapes; gold was cast and chased, soldered with copper and silver, or used as plating over copper and inlaid with turquoises; mosaic was also known. This culture was followed by that of the Tiahuanaco, which in the course of centuries declined and was forgotten, until the appearance of the Incas, who became the heirs of all the cultures which had preceded theirs in Peru.