^IMStti^i^ 0\:^ F no? / HUNTINGTON FREE LIBRARY AND READING ROOM IncSian Collection Huntington Free Library Native American Collection i »- „«^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY .LIBHARY 3 1924 097 646 412 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924097646412 ^TT% ^,- -t-.. tV .— The Indians and Aboriginal Ruins Near Chachapoyas in Northern Peru. (Explorations made in 1893vUnder the patronage of the late Mk. Henry Villard, to the memory of whom this monograph is respectfully dedicated.) -o^^ ■'U.dU'-. '> /< I K 3'^^3 HISTORICAL RBCOEDS AND STUDIES. v ^ ■v. V ''^ THE INDIANS AND ABOEIGINAL EUINS NEAR CHAOHAPOYAS IN NOETHEEN PEEU. (Explorations made in 1893 under the patronage of the late Me. Henet VillaeDj to the memory of whom \ this monograph is respectfully dedicated. ) The town of Chachapoyas is the capital of the Department of AmazonaSj in northern Peru. It lies in latitude 6° 13' 40" South, longitude West 77° 50' 45", and at an altitude of about 7,600 feet.^ The climate is mild^, the only disagreeable feature being its great humidity. Vegetables of the temperate zone grow ^C. there as well as the plantain, the orange, and the chirimoya. Chachapoyas lies on a small plateau, from every direction one must ascend to reach the town. (Plate la.) Tall cacti of the columnar species are very common, so are the palta', lucuma* and other trees bearing edible fruit. In the narrow gorges into •^ which the western section of the Department of Amazonas is j^ rent, the Palo de Balsa^ looms up in stately beauty, and in it-j clefts of the environs oiLevanto, three leagues from town, ar- iS boriferous .ferns appear by the wayside. The steep slopes ■y encasing valleys are clad in monotonous emerald-green. This 3 hue is due to grass only on the highest ridges, everywhere else ^ shrubbery and timber people declivities. The trees are loaded with parasitic hromelicB. This section of Amazonas is a laby- rinth of clefts of enormous depth, at the bottom of which limpid streams rush, or meander, to the Maranon river. About ten miles northeast of Chachapoyas lie the salines of Bituya, of great importance once to the isolated Spanish colonist.' At present, salt is still exported to the coast in reasonable quanti- 7 8 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS ties. Gold has been taken out of tlie quartz-rock at Santo Tomds de Cuillay/ twenty-three miles south of Chachapoyas towards the Maranon. There is the usual talk about mines, more or less rich, and desultory prospecting is going on. To the North and East begin the dense forests of the Amazonian basin, with streams expanding to marshes during the rainy, contracting to rivers and creeks in the dry, season. The Bio Huallaga divides the Department of Amazonas from that of Loreto, the Peruvian extreme limit towards the Atlantic. Animal life is more visible in this section of the eastern slope of the Andes than further South, on the declivities of the Bolivian ranges. When scarcity of rainfall during winter- months sets many plants temporarily at rest, deadening the brilliancy of foliage without always causing leaves to fall, in- sects and reptiles retire into the sod for sleep. The larger vertebrates then appear more numerous because they leave their lurking places in quest of food. This so-called dry season lasts a few months only. Already in August thundershowers occur and the traveler, caught by night on the arid seashore along which he must travel some distance before striking for the in- terior, is surprised at the sight of lurid lightning to the east- ward. It rains in the Sierra, and the fiery writing in the clouds indicates to him the whereabouts of the Peruvian moun- tains. As soon as the first heavy rains set in in September, and thunderstorms begin to chase each other, reptiles again appear on the surface. The great bushspider leaves its subterranean resting-place. Butterflies flit over pools and watercourses. A toad, the dweller of dense thickets, announces its presence by a cry sounding like an anvil stroke in a still night. Every foot of ground teems with life, often painfully felt, and the air swarms with stinging diptera. The eye admires the luxuriant vegetation and the dazzling colors of large winged insects; the naturalist enjoys searching for undiscovered types and observ- ing familiar species. But human comfort longs for a less ani- mated and less troublesome period of the year. Among vertebrates man is, perhaps, least numerously rep- PLATE I. Entrance to Chachapoyas. Valley of Utcubamba. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 9 resented. Tke census of the republic of Peru is, as yet, incom- plete, and this is very excusable considering the vastness of the country and the thinness of the population. There are no wild Indians in the neighborhood of Chachapoyas. The Aguarunas, the nearest roaming tribe, shift through forests further north.' They are alternately friendly or hostile, according to impulse and opportunity, and their numbers are much smaller than is supposed.® Towards the Huallaga other tribes appear. The nomenclature of the roaming clusters of Indians is still very confused.^" The majority of the sedentary population of Amazonas and of the vicinity of Chachapoyas in particular, is composed of village-Indians speaking the Quichua idiom, or general language of the aborigines in the Peruvian highlands. In pronunciation, the Chachapoyas Indians soften consonants, changing P into B, T into D. Thus "Pampa" sounds "Bamba," "Suntur," "Son- dor" or "Shundur." K turns into L, as in "Leymebamba" in- stead of "Eaymipampa," "Malca," in place of "Marca." This softening of consonants in the Quichua is noticeable both south and north of Cuzco and of the range of the Aymara idiom in southeastern Peru and northern Bolivia. South of the Aymara is a Quichua-speaking population as far as northern Argentina. Whether the hard pronunciation of consonants in the Cuzco Quichua (including Puno and Ayacucho) and the Aymara confining with it, is due to original relationship or simply to contact, is not ascertained. While the present Indians of Chachapoyas are Quichua, it is not certain whether that language has always been spoken in the region or not. There are local names inexplicable by Quichua alone. The etymology of the word Chachapoyas itself is in doubt.^^ A short journey from Chachapoyas there is a ruin called to-day Aymard-Bamha, meaning "plain (or level) of the Aymara." There are also names of localities, derived from a tongue of which no trace is left. Kuelap, Camdshian, Macro, are neither Quichua nor Aymara. Legends about the past of Ch-achapoyas preserved in Spanish sources and from purported Inca tradition, are very indefinite about the tribes that inhab- 10 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS ited it in tlie fifteenth, century and before." When tlie Span- iards obtained their first foothold in Chachapoyas (or Chiachor poyas, as it was written sometimes in the earlier periods^*) after a preliminary visit in 1535", they settled at Levanto, calling it San Juan de la Froniera. It was afterwards transferred to the site of the Chachapoyas , of to-day/* Levanto is the first aboriginal name from the region, (that of Chachapoyas excepted,) which I find mentioned. Later on, names of Indian chiefs appear who conducted the fruitless re- sistance of the natives against the Spaniards. Among these we notice Guaman (Huaman), a common personal name in Quichua, Ouayamamil, Guaquemila, Ouayamil, and Tgameta." If these are correctly reported, they would not seem to belong to the Quichua. idiom. !N"either is it certain, that they are per- sonal names. Local names have, in early times, not seldom been applied to prominent individuals through misunderstanding. Of local names mentioned, Quituj Longua, Charasmal, Ooxcon, Hasallao, Tonche, Chillao, and Bagua, are not .all Quichua.^' Hence the coimtry of Chachapoyas was once inhabited by a tribe or tribes, that belonged to a stock different from the Peruvian mountaineers, their western neighbors. As in the case of all other sections of Peru, Chachapoyas was raided upon by the Inca, but regarding Inca conquests on the eastern slope of the Andes there is considerable confusion and contradiction. The most likely interpretation of the nebulous statements seems to be: — ^that in the course of the fifteenth century a descent was made by Inca warriors upon the upper valleys of the Maranon and a little beyond. The first foray was unsuccessful but, upon renewing the attempt, the Inca succeeded in gaining a foothold and some of the inhabitants moved or were removed to the vicinity of Cuzco.^° On the peninsula of Copacavana in Bolivia, there is a place called Chachapoyas, and Indians from the coast, from Huacho, north of Lima, were called Chachapoyas also.^° The "Colonies" planted by order of the Inca dwindle to small groups that, either of their own accord or by compulsion, changed their place of abode. ^^ PLATE II. Ruins of Macro. a. Indian Houses at Suta. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU H There are traces of irruptions and occupation by tribes from tbe Sierra. The ancient buildings at Pumacocha are built after a different plan from that met with further East. There, dwellings are mostly circular, whereas at Puma-coeha they are quadrangular. The masonry is good, but the work at Kuelap, though as well done, is not Inoa work. The settlers at Pumacocha and Leymebamba were Quichua,^^ and may have come from the region of Cajamarca. Leymebamba is said to have been occupied before the Inca visited the country.^' Of the Inca roads spokeli of by Cieza (and others after him) there is not the slightest vestige. The Indians around Chachapoyas live in villages, their houses are of stone, adobe, and, in the warm and partly tim- bered valley bottoms, of wood. The roofs are mostly of thatch with gables at a high pitch. (Plate II h.) The form of ancient dwellings was round, with conical roofs, and at a pueblo called Jalca there are still circular houses of stone in actual use. Some of these are said to be two-storied and hence appear like towers.^* The costume of the men is of dark blue woollen cloth, coarse, and consists of trousers, wide and somewhat similar to those worn by the Aymara Indians to-day, a coarse white shirt, and a dark- blue jacket or the poncho. Around the head, men invariably wear a red cotton handkerchief, and sometimes a straw hat over it, but usually the handkerchief alone, folded so as to resemble a night-cap.^" Women dress in the same dark blue or black woollen mate- rial, which they spin, and weave on primitive looms. There was (in 1893 when I made my visit to Chachapoyas) a general complaint among the few whites and mestizos, against the tenacity with which the Indians clung to ancient customs and especially against their mode of tenure of lands. The holdings were, then, communal and the areas very large. Thus the village of Suta (south-south-east from Chachapoyas towards the Maranon) had not over two hundred inhabitants and owned twenty square leagues ! Much of this is of course pasture in the high and cold Jalca or Puna, still the obstinate refusal of the Indians to sell or lease ground which they are not able to use 12 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS themselves, is regarded as an impediment to progress. The fairly settled part of the Department where the city of Ghacha- poyas is located, has not very much arable land. The soil is rich but the surface so cut and cleft that comparatively little of it is capable of cultivation. Nearly every valley is occupied by Haciendas and these valleys are exceedingly narrovf. East of Chachapoyas the forests begin, and slopes at Levanto, Tingo, and vicinity, are covered by thickets that oppose serious ob- stacles to cultivation. At an altitude of ten thousand feet the summits of the heights called Kuelap, In'cwpuy, etc., are still densely overgrov7n. Among the various statements made to me concerning landed tenure in Amazonas there is one indicating a feature which is not primitive. I was told that every family could alienate the land assigned to it, and that abandonment thereof for any length of time did not invalidate the title. This, if true, would be a first step towards the dissolution of the com- munities, in accordance with laws passed in Peru after its sepa- ration from Spain.^° The village authorities were (always speaking of the time when I visited the country) a Gobernador, appointed by the Sub-Prefect (who is the highest officer of the Province) eon- firmed by the Prefect or superior authority of the Department; a Lieutenant-Governor appointed by the Sub-Prefect and for whom confirmation by the Prefect was not required. Disputes to be decided by law of each pueblo were committed to Justices of the Peace appointed by the higher tribunals. Finally, each pueblo had its "Begidores" or councilmen elected by the people, and really the only officers chosen by Indians or Mestizos. In religious affairs a Cura administered sometimes as many os four villages, each of which had its Fiscales who cared for the maintenance of edifices and the collection of tithes and dues. The Chachapoyas Indians are of course nominally Eoman Catholics.. But they still preserve a great many rites and cus- toms from primitive times. I did not see any of their dances, but was assured that the dancers performed with their faces painted, or wearing various masks, and having rattles of deer- NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 13 hoofs and turtle-shell. Others appeared in the garb of savages from the forests.^' That they celebrate the usual feast-days I saw at the village of 8uta, and noticed that my presence (purely accidental) was as undesirable to them as it had been years ago in some of the New Mexican pueblos, when they celebrated a special dance of old. Of sorcery belief and the practice of sorcery I heard a great deal. While at the village of Tingo, eleven miles south of Ohacha- poyas, I visited a number of Indian houses. They were mostly of stone and adobe with a roof of thatch, but some of them were also built of canes. There was usually but one room and the floor was of mud. In case there is a partition (of canes), the main space is used for sitting, working and, sometimes, as dormitory. A platform of canes or sticks served as bedstead. The scanty furniture was scattered over the floor or shoved into corners. The door had wooden hinges. In the wall facing it was a niche, with the image of the patron saint having be- fore it a bowl or cup of gourd {mate) or of clay, or a small bottle-shaped gourd. This was the case in every house but one. On examination of these vessels I found that they were filled with wheat! The ancient drum or large tambourine I noticed in every dwelling. At this village of Tingo witchcraft plays an important part. A current term among the people in general, used to designate the Indian medicinemen is: "Herbatero." In other parts of Peru and Bolivia "Herholario" is used. Both (Spanish) terms signify the same, namely: one who handles herbs.^^ By "han- dling," the use of plants for healing and curing is meant. The medicinemen in Amazonas cure mostly with vegetable rem- edies, of which the rank vegetation furnishes many. Still I have been assured by physicians that the number and impor- tance of these Indian herbs is much, exaggerated. Witchcraft is, of course, at the bottom of almost every Indian "cure." The medicinemen or Shamans, use much white and yellow corn- meal/ They sprinkle and rub it over the body of the patient. While engaged in this, they constantly smoke tobacco, and this weed, together with Coca and a plant called SJiayr, are their 14 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS chief remedies. The "Shayr" is said to he extremely narcotic and is sprinkled in every direction to purify the air. At least this is the interpretation of the process by Mestizos and whites. The word "Shayr" is suspiciously like the Quichua "Sayri" for tobacco and it might be, that thereby the wild, indigenous plant (growing in Amazonas) is meant, to distinguish it from the cultivated plant.^" Coca or tobacco, sometimes both, are placed under a stone, near to the place where excavations are to be performed, as a propitiatory offering. It is also a charm against the "Purumachos." By this name they designate the skulls of their predecessors or ancestors. Dread of these human remains is very great among the Mestizos who claim that the "Purumachos" only hurt them and not the Indians. I observed this more than once. It is a belief found also among the Ay- mara and Quichua of Peru and Bolivia, only that among the Aymara "the apprehension is not confined to the cholos (as half- breeds are generally called). The offering of coca and tobacco, preliminary to excavations, corresponds to the "tinha," without which no attempt at excavation in Bolivia would be considered safe or profitable by the Indians. It was stated to me, that there are three classes of vegetable medicines in use and that the generic name for them is "mish- ya." One of the three is called toyo and proper to the forest Indians. The other is the justly dreaded uar-uar, or red da- tura, the effects of which, when taken in small doses, are said to be tonic, whereas in larger quantities it creates imbecility or insanity. The uar-uar or datura sanguinea {cJiamico in Ay- mara) is used all over the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, secretly of course. Wizards or Shaman are called "bruja camajni." This word appears to be composed of two languages: the Spanish "bruja" and the Quichua "camani," to make, or to create. These medicinemen are for good as well as for evil. "When any- body has been hurt by falling, or by striking a rock, or when he falls ill at some particular spot, the Shaman takes soil from that spot or breaks off a piece of the stone, mixes its powder with alcohol, coca, tobacco and other substances, and rubs it PLATE TIL £0 too KM) 400 eoo " 30 40 SO eo 70 — ioyf' NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 21 noxious insects, ticks alone were bothersome and large red ants, that more than once urged me to a change of base for my theod- olite. At Lirio, in the course of excavations, a pair of huge bird-spiders (jnygale) came to light along with pot-sherds, and caused lively scattering of my companions, showing that the little monsters are no favorites of the people. This bluff is a natural fortress. (Plate IV o.) The western slope of the ridge is exceedingly steep; descent and ascent are equally laborious and not devoid of danger. It is covered with the same kind of forest as the platform, and descends for more than a thousand feet to a bottom where a stream of permanent water is running. This gorge is called Sicsij, and is but a very deep gash, like all so-called "valleys" in that region. I copy from my journal of September 16, 1893 : — "The spot is a place of safety, well fitted for observation, as it overlooks vast stretches consisting of the usual labyrinth of narrow and deep Quebradas, steep slopes and wooded or bare crests. Not a sharp peak in any direction. A wilderness of ridges and gorges, here and there patches of fields and lonely huts."— The western face of the bluff (Plates III and V, 1 a and 2 a) is girded, like the other sides, by a wall. Its elevation at B is thirty-nine (39) feet and it slopes, grad- ually to both the northern and the southern end-points. So, the mass of the rock is protected by a stone plating of varying height and having a perimeter of 4100 feet, of which 1840 belong to the eastern, 1800 to the western face, and 366 to the southern, while the northern end runs almost to a point. This wall is not a circumvalation ; it is built against, not on, the rock and consists of an outer armor made of fairly cut parallelopipedons of stone of unequal sizes, about three feet thick, behind which is a filling of rubble two to three feet wide at the base and two to eight feet at the top. The whole rep- resents as many as 760,000 cubic feet of masonry. The reasons for covering the sides of a large bluff with an armor of masonry were two-fold. First, to prevent scaling of the Mesa; next, to prevent disintegration of the cliffs by 22 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS rain. The face wall is carefully laid, and a tMn seam of mud originally bound tlie blocks. In places this has been washed away by torrential rains that would have endangered portions of the Mesa or cliff, in course of time. Thus, with its top rendered almost inaccessible, the Mesa still required places or contrivances for ascent. These were supplied by nature. At A on the eastern face, a deep cut enters the body of the bluff extending into it westward for a distance of 202 feet. This natural cleft forms a narrow and rapidly ascending passage. At A (Plate III, and a, Plate VI) it is 48 feet deep, while 202 feet beyond it emerges on the surface of the platform. Nearly opposite, at B (Plate III, and h, Plate VI), a similar cut penetrates from the west for about 112 feet ; 39 feet deep at the western entrance and issu- ing on the platform 50 feet from the eastern passage, so that there are two narrow inclined planes cutting through the Mesa. Both are naturally uneven, and now partly obstructed by debris, and partly by vegetation that has encroached every- where. A similar cut, also natural, into the eastern side of the bluff, opens at C (Plate III), but it is short and less deep. Hence the platform can be reached by a general ascent at two points from the east, and at one place from the west. It may also be gained from the northern end, but with considerable difficulty {E). The passage A is of varying widths. (Plate IV 6.) At the entrance and for sixty-four feet inwards, it is eight feet at the base, tapering to four above; then follows a widening for fifty-eight feet, due to decay; the remainder begins with a width of four feet and tapers to the upper exit where the arti- ficial walls meet at the top, forming a low gateway (Plates VI, 1;V,4). The entrance from the west is ten feet wide on the face, narrowing gradually (Plate V, 2, and VI, 2) towards the up- per end. Both passages are lined by walls similar to those facing the bluff (Plates V, 1, VI and VII). At the upper end the eastern passage was originally closed. A trapezoidal doorway, PLATE VI. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 23 six feet high, eight feet at the base and a little over two at the top, was cut through the rock aud lined with masonry. (Plate V, 3.) The passages are natural fissures, lined by stonework, to arrest the damaging effects of erosion. The surface of the Mesa is, as already stated, uneven and undulating. These undulations could not be more than indi- cated on the plan, as they are buried in dense timber. The general dip is from west to east, but there is als6 one from north to south. Besides there is, as mentioned, an upper tier of rocks, of varying height, l^orth of the entrances a quad- rangle (Plate III) has been cleared on the Mesa for about thirty feet in width. On this area, the buildings may be studied with less difficulty. As indicated by tradition, Kuelap was not simply a place of refuge in case of danger: it was permanently inhabited and a fortified village, its natural strength having been artificially increased. Houses are scattered all over the Mesa. In the cleared space I located forty, and as far as I could examine the timbered sections, there must be nearly three hundred dwellings more. This would give, for the tribe living at Kue- lap, a population of not over two thousand souls, or six hundred warriors. That number of Indians could become formidable, in an ahnost impregnable position. I was told of a tradition according to which Kuelap mustered 11,000 men at arms in its wars with the Indians of Huanca and Levanto, but this statement, aside from coming from a source that inspired no confidence,** is absurd on the very face. The dwellings on Kuelap were circular structures' of modest dimensions (Plates III, VI and VIII), the exterior diameter of those I measured varying between 20 and 29 feet. (See plans.) Their walls, of broken stone laid in mud, rarely are more than 18 inches in thickness. No trace is left of roofs. These houses are mostly reduced to a circle rising but a few feet above the ground. They stand isolated as well as in clusters of two or three (Plate IX a). Excavations uncovered rude floors of poimded earth with slabs of stone occasionally imbedded. The soil on the platform is very thin and no under- 24 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS ground chambers may be looked for, since the Indian had no means to remove solid rock. I also measured circular structures that stand on a massive base. One of these bases was six feet above ground and had an outer diameter of 28 feet. On it rose the dwelling proper, ineasuring 24 feet across, outside. Another had a base four feet high, but its diameter was 50 feet and that of the upper structure 28 feet. Adjacent to this were two smaller circles, measuring respectively 16 and 19 feet across, . that appeared like annexes. In these buildings . and about them, we found rude mortars of stone, pestles, deer prongs, and sherds of the type already mentioned. Also fragments of flat grinding slabs or handmills, like those in use all over the western coast of Peru. Not a trace of metal or stone-imple- ments, no flint nor obsidian. The existence of stone-axes was mentioned to me, but no specimen shown. It is more than likely that by investigating the ruins covered by timber (which I could not do owing to prohibition) many artefacts will come to light. The forest tribes of Amazonas (like most forest- Indians of Peru and Bolivia) have stone-axes to-day,*^ and it is almost certain that sedentary tribes possessed them also. Everything of perishable material had disappeared. Around the rims of the solid bases of houses a ring of pro- jecting plates forms a rude cornice (see diagrams). In dense timber on the northern half of the platform, I was led to a group of circular buildings, one of which had a cornice made of a mosaic of lozenges. (See Plate X, h.) The stone- work on that building (the perimeter of which was but little different from that of the others) was as well done as any on the great walls, and I saw a few others that displayed equally fair workmanship. In my excursions through timber and thickets I nowhere saw any structure that appeared to be for ceremonial purposes. I found one rectangular house, very small, and another (ex- ceedingly rude) with rounded corners. The tower (at F, Plate III, and Plate VIII, 4 and 4 a) is a quadrangular, measuring 24 by 25 feet, but a solid mass; it appears, from PLATE VII. Eastern Passage, Looking to Upper Exit, Eastern Passage, Looking East. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 25 its position, to have been a lookout. I would observe that the terms "circular" and "rectangular" are to be understood as approximations only. The houses are never accurately circu- lar, and the tower is but an approximate rectangle. The tower (3, Z a, Z h, Plate VIII) stands, as said, on an eminence in the forest, and vegetation on its top is low, so that a good outlook over the ruins can be obtained from it, not as extensive, however, as from the one at F, Plate III. It is a truncated cone, inverted, its diameter at the top being 46, at the bottom 40 feet, and the height 15 feet. It recalls in shape the towers of Sillustani in southwestern Peru near Lake Titi- caca. The mass of this building is rubble, and an armor of well cut and laid parallelopipedons of stone lines it to a thickness of two feet. Against this structure and leading to its upper level, is an inclined plane of earth. Pourteen feet inside of where that inclined plane reaches the top, an opening, over three feet square, gives access to a hottle-shaped cyst that goes down through the whole structure and even a few feet below. (VIII, 3 &.) It is like the bottle-shaped underground rooms for storage, found in the ruins of Cajamarquilla near Lima, also like the chambers in the Sillustani towers. This cyst is lined with very good masonry carefully done and the stones very close-fitting. In it water, from the rains that were then visiting the country, had collected. This chamber looked like a cistern, and the tower is so placed as to receive rain from every direction. The annexed photograph not only gives an idea of the neatness of the masonry, but also a picture of the only carving of any kind I saw at the ruins. It represents the head of a man and, probably, even two heads, in relief. The figure (or figures) is very rude but has the merit of showing the head- dress. I have purposely placed my chief workman, the Indian Pedro Huaman from Tingo, alongside to show how much this headgear resembles that of the Indians of Chachapoyas of to- day. They are so strikingly alike as to arouse a suspicion that the carving might be recent? (See Plate X, a.) The suggestion that this tower was perhaps a cistern leads 26 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS to the question of water-supply. As far as known in 1893, no permanent water had been found on the Mesa. The dense vegetation absorbs all moisture and no pools can form on the surface. Neither had any springs or sources been noticed. When Kuelap was inhabited, vegetation did not cover the pla- teau in such dense masses as to-day, and if the whole could once be cleared, tanks might perhaps be brought to light that, as at Acoma in 'New Mexico, held sufficient rain-water for the population. There is a small perennial stream running in the gorge of Sicsij at the western foot of the Mesa. Descent is difficult and long, still Indians make it, also whites and Mes- tizos when hunting, and it is neither steeper nor higher than the Barranca out of which the women of the village of San Mateo Ozolco in Central Mexico were wont to get the water for their households in 1881. Even if Kuelap (as the legend declares) was at war with neighboring tribes and occasionally hard pressed, this warfare did not and could not take the proportions of a lengthy siege. Repeated harassing raids, discontinued and resumed until a surprise or assault became possible, were the only military operations of which the natives were capable in primitive times. For months and perhaps years, the women from the Mesa might descend to Sicsij unmolested; again a hostile party might lie in wait for them and compel the people to fall back upon some store of water on the platform, until the enemy had been driven off or had withdrawn of his own accord. In these densely wooded ranges, am- bushes and surprises (little practised on the barren highlands) were the principal tactics, as to-day among the shifting forest- tribes. It is not likely that the Indians of the Mesa could practise tillage to any extent. There is hardly room for it. Hence it is probable that they raised their crops either on the slopes or in the valley. There is a group of round houses outside the great eastern wall and the ruins of Lirio may be those of dwellings occupied during planting and harvesting.*' There are a number of circular buildings, single and in groups, scattered through the timber on slopes and crests near the PLATE VIII. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 27 ruins, but the settlement on the Mesa was the only large and compact one. S.S.E. of the Mesa extends a lower ridge, overgrown with brush only and called Shundur. "Shundur" might be a cor- ruption of Suntur or Suntu, meaning, in Quichua, a heap,*' a name sometimes given to circular houses with conical thatch- roofs.** The governor of Tingo who accompanied me on the journey to Kuelap suggested this explanation. Although there is no timber on Shundur, ruins there are more decayed than those on the Mesa. They consist of about twenty round buildings like those described, and of a wall that runs along the lower end of the southern declivity from about E.S.E. to W.IST.W. for over 1660 feet. At its eastern termination it turns to the northward and up the slope about 300 feet to the crest, on which the houses are grouped. Between the south- western corner of Kuelap, and Shundur, there is a depression, and the wall of the latter is so pla:ced as to protect the small settlement from the west, where an approach is possible along the edge of the gorge of Sicsij. That wall is reduced to little more than an abutment. Whether Shundur was an annex to Kuelap, an independent settlement, or one previously for- saken, it is not possible to decide. We found nothing to reveal its relative age and no artefacts beyond the usual pot-sherds. The great walls of Kuelap are also beginning to crumble. In many places they bulge out, in consequence of disintegration. Eain is constantly washing out the mudseams between the courses and vegetation breaks through the wall or eats into fissures with roots and creepers. (Plate VII.) In the passages entering the bluff from the east, trees two feet in diameter have pierced through the masonry. Man has contributed to this de- struction. In many places the front was torn open in search of treasure. This vandalism revealed, that all along the wall, as high as five or six feet from the ground, hurial niches exist in it, closed by blocks of stone. I saw many of these niches and ob- tained human skulls and bones out of some. Everything else had been taken out, thoiigh I could not learn that anything except 28 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS human remains were ever found. I was not permitted to open any myself. The niches were of various sizes and usually large enough for a squatting body. For the skulls, I refer to the adjoining plate as well as for the other artefacts obtained in the Ama- zonas region. (Plate IX, &.) The governor of Tingo, Tuestas, told me that, when yet a boy, he saw the eastern slope of Kuelap covered with skulls and skeletons. This statement was made in support of an alleged tradition according to which the Mesa was inhabited, when Alonso de Alvarado first came to Chachapoyas and that the Spaniards, while besieging Kuelap, had died of hunger.** He also stated that, from the slope east of the ruins, a number of "mummies"^" were taken. It is singular that, while human remains in the well protected niches have well nigh, disinte- grated, they should have remained intact in the thin soil of the slope for at least three and a half centuries ! Niche-hurial, in the great wall lining the perimeter of the bluff, was therefore practiced by the people of Kuelap at least in the majority of cases. Lower down (as I shall soon have occasion to state) caves were used for the purpose. But around Kuelap there are no natural cavities nor have I heard of artificial ones. I can only surmise, from what I saw after- wards, that the corpses were placed in a squatting position and possibly sideways, as in many Aymara burials. In one of the houses, something like a bench or seat of stone was discovered, a rude pile raised against one of the sides. In another a doorway, two feet wide, which had been walled up, showing that the abandonment of the building took place without haste or hurry. Most of the mortars and pestles were broken and some bottoms of vessels showed perforation, as if they had been "killed," as the ISTew Mexican ' Indians do with pottery when out of use. The story related to me, that Kuelap was abandoned in consequence of an epidemic, may have originated from the skeletons which the governor of Tingo saw scattered over the slope, again it may derive some con- firmation ■ from the signs above mentioned, which in New PLATE IX. Remnants of Circular Houses, Ku^lap. a. Antiquities from Kuelap and Vicinity. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 29 Mexico, would be construed as proving slow and gradual aban- donment. There is also a story afloat among the white and Mestizo inhabitants, that while the big wall was being constructed those who refused to work on it were immured alive. This is plainly a "Myth of Observation."" It is manifest that Kuelap was a village of land-tilling ab- origines who resided on the bluff for safety. This feature is not exceptional in that region, although Kuelap is the most striking example so far known. All or nearly all ancient ruins lie ab6ve the river bottoms, and more than one shows traces of a platform faced by masonry similar to Kuelap. The nature of the country obliged the native to dwell on slopes and crests. He could not clear the timbered bottoms with tools of stone or copper, and burning of the forest was of no avail; six months later everything was again covered with vegetation. Further- more, the streams that water the valleys are torrents, subject to sudden and damaging rises. To escape from them, the na- tives had' to live on slopes and crests. It appears, from what little is at my command about the earliest Spanish expeditions into the Chachapoyas district, that its inhabitants were divided into independent tribes, some of which formed a confederation against the Europeans in the beginning. As long as there was no outside peril, these tribes warred with each other frequently.'^ Hence security from ag- gression more than anything else determined the choice of a dwelling site. Tales and traditions are very contradictory on the ultimate fate of Kuelap. The same aged Indian who related the story of the killing of its inhabitants by a wizard from Quemia also stated that the people had been exterminated by an epidemic! l^ot all, for at the same time he spoke of survivors who retired to Conilo, Chiringote^^ and Santo Tomds de Quillay! The place is not mentioned by name in any early document accessible to me, nor have I found any description that would recall even faintly Kuelap, or any statement leading to infer that the Spaniards saw it. So conspicuous an object, however, 30 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS could not easily escape notice, had it been inhabited in 1636." Hence, I conclude (until otherwise informed) that the site was forsaken before any white men visited Chachapoyas. Tree-growth on Kuelap is no criterion for the approximate date of abandonment. Trees, as well known, grow with great rapidity in the tropics. I descended from Kuelap on another trail. Passing close to the steep height of Incupuy I could see the ruins on its top but not visit them. They appeared to be smaller than those of Kuelap and the buildings are said to resemble the latter in construction. But thundershower upon thundershower swept the region and it would have cost too much time and labor to cut the way through timber and thickets. Therefore I returned to Tingo, thence to visit the ruins scattered along the narrow gorge of the Utcubamba river. At Tingo the heights recede from the river for a short dis- Jfcance, but soon 'close in again forming a narrow gateway with vertical rocks on the west, very steep declivities on the east, overgrown by thorny plants. On this side and about a mile down the river from Tingo, the ruins of Macro are seen from the trail. The aim.exed photograph is taken from the opposite bank. (Plate II, a. ) The groundplan shows 21 circular houses (Plate XI, 1), built against a slope that is nearly ver- tical. (Plate XI, la.) Measurements are exceedingly diffi- cult. Some of the houses have the decoration found in the timber of Kuelap and represented on Plate X 6, lozenges of mosaic work rudely executed. The size of the houses does not differ from those at Kuelap, Shundur, and Lirio, neither does their construction. Macro may have sheltered in the neighborhood of a hundred souls. Its elevation above the vale, and the perpendicular rocks in its rear, made an attack difficult, but it could easily be cut off from water. I copy from my journal of September 24, 1893 : — "We passed along the river below Magdalena, after crossing the stream on the covered bridge. Sugar-cane in small patches, many orange-trees, and the usual huts .... then climbed slopes covered with a scrubby and thorny vegetation, then turned a high cliff and, after wind- PLATE X. a. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 31 ing around steep and rugged heights, stood in the sugar-cane patch on the right bank above which, on a very steep slope over- grown with cacti and other thorns, also with maguey, stand the three lines of round structures, the lowest of which is at an elevation of 195 feet above the river banks. It was hard work to climb this slope, every step having to be cut out. Upon arriving, found the ruins to be but three superposed rows of circular houses, some one story, others two stories high, exactly like those of Malca and the other ones so far seen by me. Ply- ing themselves to the nature of the ground, the circular form has been preserved outside. . . .or several houses have been so joined as to present but a very slightly undulating front. All walls are well constructed and of the usual thickness of eigh- teen inches about. Little niches in the walls, no windows, but in one place an Olla walled in so as to serve as a niche, and a sculptured stone also sunken in the wall, representing the face and a part of a human body." "Three of the houses of the uppermost tier have a rim of lozenge-shaped mosaic, but we saw nothing else of importance, not even pot-sherds. Some of the chambers are partly carved out of the rock and a thin wall of stone has been placed against the natural surface. The houses are clearly, in part, on a platform or basis which serves as substructure and foundation. .... On the height on the opposite side of the river there are circular houses scattered, and going towards Magdalena we encountered several of the same description on the slopes to- wards the river and descending from the pueblo." From Tingo I followed the Kio de Utcubamba again as far as the Sargento, where I remained four days, improving intervals between thundershowers for the examination of ruins in that neighborhood. About a mile from the Sargento and above a cluster of modem huts bearing the unusual name of Oclel/^ are the ruins of Aymara-Bamha. This name is interesting as meaning "plain of the Aymara." They rise on a gradual slope near the bottom (see Plate XI, 2 and 2 a) and contain about twenty round houses, some of which stand in a gulch forming the 32 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS northern limit of the old settlement. Across this, as well as across the southern gulch, dams or buttresses of stone have been erected recalling the dykes in the beds of the torrents of Sonora (northern Mexico) and there, called "Banquitos." Most of the houses, however, stand on a ridge between both gulches. The highest part of the ruins is 185 feet above the valley. Here I saw a number of "Batanes"°° and obtained a well made grinder. Pot-sherds were exactly like those at Kuelap, black and white, or without decorative lines. One hour of tedious ascent above this ruin, on a narrow crest nearly a thousand feet above the bottom, buried in dense shrubbery, are the ruins to which the name of Tshu-Shin is given, but better knovm to the people as Shivanu Cunga. (Plate XI, 3.) The latter has one Quichua word in it: Cunga, which means a point or crest that can be passed, and is ap- propriate for the site. It seems to be the more recent name. Tshushin is not Quichua. I refer to the plan for an idea of the place. The circular houses, about forty in number, lie on a narrow and elongated plateau protected by a stone wall imi- tating on a small scale the wall of Kuelap. It is only about four feet high and built rather to prevent the soil behind from being washed away than for defense. In one place of this wall I saw a broken inclined plane, like those on the Peruvian coast at Surco, Pachacamac and Ghan-Ghan (Plate XII, 4). This double ascent, each section of which is about 14 feet long and five feet high (the first incline being lower than the wall) leads to the plateau on which the houses stand. At its southern end and somewhat below is an angular structure (see plate XII, 1) also of stone, better built than the round houses and suggesting Spanish origin by its court resembling a cemetery. It has a window and several niches, and in one of these I found the remains of what the people had told me was a "mummy." Only a few bones and shreds of dark blue cloth were left ; the skull was gone. Prom their size they appeared to be the remains of a woman, and I gathered the impression that they were placed there after the abandonment of the place; perhaps for purposes of witchcraft. Of the past of this ruin which was a PLATE XI. So (00 200 NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 33 settlement twice as large as Macro and Aymara-Bamba, I could not ieam anything; the people asserted that the quadran- gular structure had been a church, a statement to which ap- pearances lend some support. The pottery is identical with that of Kuelap and other points in the neighborhood. Tshushin is probably the place at which, I was told, copper-pins and cop- per-spoons had been found. North of Tshushin and in plain view of it, but several hundred feet higher, some almost circular knolls cap a height densely overgrown, to which the name Pucard is given. "Puc- ara" is both Quichua and Aymara and designates a place of safety, not necessarily fortified or walled in, but any naturally strong position, inhabited or occupied. These ruins are indeed in a remarkably favorable situation for defense and observa- tion. Not as elevated as Kuelap, they still command an ex- tensive view and enjoy, besides, the advantage of permanent water. I could not, owing to a heavy thundershower, survey the entire place. The principal Pucara has still portions of "armor" against the rock ; the stone-work is even better than on the big wall of Kuelap, and on the summit stand the remnants of some twenty round houses and of several quadrangular ones ; also quadrangular enclosures connected with houses. (Plate XII, 2 and 3.) The second "Pucara" lies higher than the first and there one of the side-walls was entire. It measures 22 feet in length, is two feet high on the top, and five feet thick on one side. The number of houses is twenty also. Northeast of these, separated from them by a deep cleft, lies a third one on a ridge, and not far away are remnants of a circular wall. These four groups seem to have formed one cluster. The pot-sherds (which are the only artefacts I noticed) were of the same description as at Kuelap. While at the Sargento, I heard of a "mummy" in a natural cavity near the bottom at Aymara-bamba. It was so decayed that the skull and shreds of the dress alone could be preserved. These shreds represent an outer envelope of coarse cotton simi- lar to that of ancient coast-burials; a piece of dress, black and white; and a belt in two colors. Then I learned that this 34: THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS vicinity abounds in natural cavities and crevices used anciently for burials. Most of them are very difficult of access and it is natural that the natives should have resorted to them. The bottom was timbered, slopes are constantly washed by torrential rains, so that holes in the rocks, crevices, and rents were the only places where bodies might be preserved. I am not certain, however, that the remains near Aymara-bamba are ancient. The textiles are too suspiciously like those from the coast. Should more be found it would perhaps indicate that the former in- habitants wore the same costume as those on the Peruvian sea- shore. I also obtained a few pieces of whole pottery, but they were, with one or two exceptions only, from the banks of the Marafion in the west. Two of them recall the plastic ancient coast pottery. One has a greenish glaze that may be due to subsequent heating. These jars were in private hands and had been used for household purposes for many years. It is not unlikely they suffered accidental re-baking. (Plate IX, i.) I left Chachapoyas on October 11th. The weather allowed no further explorations and furthermore, I was called to the coast by important news. While on my way to Chachapoyas in September, I had measured some ruins at Cliauar,^'' between Leymebamba and Suta, which are much decayed. They appear to be walls of the type of those of Pueara, built against the slope of a wooded hill. ISTo artefacts were seen. I mention them here, as the route which I took on my return deflected from the main road before reaching Suta. The party accompanying me, which the Prefect led in person, crossed the river at Lope-caneha to the west side and we spent the first night at the Hacienda of Sumen in a gorge covered by the usual vegetation. The vale is exceedingly narrow, and the fields of wheat, corn, and barley are mere patches. At Sumen I was shown a natural cavity high up on the opposite side, of which it was stated it contained "mummies." Here also, the tale of the abandonment of Kue- lap in consequence of the coming of the Spaniards was repeated to me. Ancient remaias were spoken of, chiefly caves and houses built against the rock, a statement borne out by the PLATE XII. Pi^i44mu^^^^ .% S 10 20 NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 35 lumerous cliffs looming up along the heights. Santo Tomas le Cuillay was said to be the place where caves formerly in- labited were best represented, and the Prefect insisted I should iccompany him to some abandoned gold mines in that vicinity. )uillay°^ lies on a plateau above a deep cleft and had, then, ,bout a thousand inhabitants, mostly Indians; with a church, md. some larger houses of stone and adobe, while the majority re huts. The caves were pointed out to me from the village ; hey are on the brink of a cliff opposite, and appear to number inly a dozen close to each other. To visit ithem would have intailed more time than I could dispose of, Ipetter state of' lealth, and less rain. We went to the so-called mines, some of vhich were old Spanish workings abandoned when the Span- ards were expelled from Peru. They were again worked for I short period, fifty years ago, by an Englishman, whom the )eople of the village drove away. Thirty years after, another ittempt was made with native capital, which also failed. The ^old is imbedded in quartz and the percentage so variously tated that I do not care to repeat it. From Santo Tomas I eturned to the Maranon at Balsas by the way of Gallon, leav- Qg the ruins at Puma-Cocha to the east. These ruins were aid to be Inca. Their general aspect does not agree with that pinion, neither did they appear to resemble Kuelap. What I aw when coming to Chachapoyas was a little vale covered dth fine grass and flanked by steep hills overgrown by ferng nd low shrubbery. A limpid stream runs through the valley, nd ruins are scattered on the brow of the lowest hills. They )oked like quadrangular stone-houses with enclosures, the rails fairly constructed, but not of the nice-fitting masonry baracteristic of Inca buildings. A low and shapeless mound iands in the bottom of the vale. Puma-cocha lies near the Jge of tree-vegetation, and I gathered the impression that it ad not been a settlement of much importance.^* Dr. Midden- orf visited Chachapoyas a few years previous to my journey ) Amazonas, exclusively in quest of remains of the Inca, and was assured that he returned disappointed, not having found Qy trace of Inca architecture. I obiained the same impression. 36 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS It is certain that the circular house or dwelling, of stone and mud, with its roof of thatch is used to-day."" The ruined dwellings at Kuelap and elsewhere were of the same type, hence the present Indians either copied the architecture of unknown predecessors or belonged to the same stock. The circular house is common on the old Puna of Peru and Bolivia and in the latter country it seems to be as old a type as the quadrangular. In Amazonas the quadrangular has superseded the round. Still, in central Bolivia, the round form is mostly given to out- houses or storerooms, to annexes of the dwelling proper. My journey from Santo Tomas to GoUon had to be made across an angle of the Jalca or Puna, and in a tempest of rain, hail and sleet. We were constantly in a dense cloud. The storm subsided as we descended into the warm and handsome gorge where the Hacienda of GoUon stands. I heard of no ruins in that neighborhood. After crossing timbered clefts, we climbed a spur of the sides, where the trail runs along some of the most frightful precipices I ever saw. The walls are, for hundreds of feet, as sheer as masonry and the path often hardly wide enough for a horse or mule. I felt decided relief when these dizzy stretches were overcome and the crest of Cacha- conga, also dangerous from disintegrating rock and abruptness, lay behind us. Prom its summit we saw again the chasm in which runs the Maranon river at least six thousand feet below. °^ Descent to its banks at Balsas was made in four hours. We were on the regular road to the coast. "^ Balsas is a hamlet and, as the foregoing indicates, in a very deep gorge, on the banks of the muddy and swift Maranon. Its elevation above the sea being (according to Baimond) only about three thousand feet;"' the climate is hot. Thorny plants pre- vail, tall Cerei being as abundant as on the upper Taqui river of Sonora. I could not help recalling vividly the gorges of the Yaqui at Durazo and Guassavas, when I saw the thickets and arboriferous Cacti of this part of the Maranon, and the analogy is emphasized by temperature and scenery. On the north or Amazonas side,, where Balsas stands, the bottom expands some- what; on the other side there is barely room for cultivation, PLATE XIII. <2^. 'Z ° i^'C ^ ■ Mil UM l[ U llTlTTII J I I I I Ml % % £?K ^^^ ■*_ ■^4 I- % 5 '^ ^'/tX-\.C|ii;^ 'J iV? NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 37 but it has an Acequia, although much less level ground. Near Balsas, coca of an inferior quality is raised. The Maranon runs through similar chasms for a considerable distance and there are few settlements on its banks as far as the Pongo de Manseriche (where it enters the Amazonian basin proper), more than two degrees north and about one degree east."* Al- though I heard of ruins in the long and deep cleft, there seem to be none of importance, which is also to be inferred from early descriptions. But I was assured that ruins existed in the immediate vicinity of. Balsas, and therefore proceeded to examine them. I found that none of the buildings resembled Inca work, but still it was superior to what I had yet seen in Ohachapoyas, and rather resembled the so-called "church" at Tshushin. On the slopes are remains of ancient terraces and on the crests structures, quadrangular, and built of pieces of the hard granite with crystals of feldspar which is the rock in situ. I refer to accompanying plans and diagrams. (Plate XIII.) Imme- diately above the river is the depression (1 and 1 a, Plate XIII) similar to a double tank four feet deep and lined by a stone wall inside. The separation is by a double wall filled in with rubble and eight feet thick. The pot-sherds lying about the ruins resemble those at other places in Amazonas, but there is, besides, corrugated ware and some with decorations repre- senting uncouth human and animal forms. The latter recall the plastic pottery which I obtained at the Sargento and of which I was told came from Mendan. In regard to the age of these structures it is likely they do not antedate the period of the conquest by many years. It is stated on the authority of a priest who administered "Keque," a coast village, where one of the coast-languages was spoken in 1644, that the same idiom was used by the Indians of Balsas who were descendants of coast-Indians transferred to the Ma- ranon not two himdred years prior to 1644, in consequence of the raids of the Inca upon their settlements.'" Should this state- ment be otherwise confirmed it might be worth while to look for the origin of some local names along or near the Maranon, 38 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS among the coast languages of Peru, l^ames like Tupeng, Mendan and the like, do not seem to be Quichua. How far beyond the Maranon the reported "colonies" from the coast may have reached, I have not been able to ascertain. I left Balsas on the twentieth of October, returning to Ca- jamarca leisurely in five days, heavy rains and delays of the pack train detaining me at Celendin for two days, during which it was not possible to do any work in the field. My trip to the Amazonas Department had been a reconnoissance only, which proved, that there is in that section of northern Peru a rich field for archaeological and ethnological investigation. But, even if such investigations should be undertaken, their result will remain in doubt so long, until documents can be procured that contain much more detailed (while of course authentic) information about the Indians of Chachapoyas in their prim- itive condition than as yet knovm. Without the support of documentary information, the past of a people and its culture remain always a matter of conjecture, at least to a certain extent. Ad. F. Bandeliee. ISTew York City, February 12, 1907. I^OTES. ' Antonio Raimondi : El Peril (Tomo III, LIbro II, Cap. XXVIII, page 529). Altitude, 2328 meters or 7636 feet. The figures are those of Mr. Werthemann, a German civil and mining engineer and long resident of Peru. ' Raimondi, m Perii (ut supra), mean annual temperature: 18,8° C. after Werthemann. Equal to 59,7° F. But I do not know the length of time the observations embraced. » Called in Mexico Ahuacate, Persea gratissima. * Lucuma obovata; see Raimondi, Elementos de Botdnica (Lima, 1857. "Indice de los nombres vulgares.") = Ochroma piscatoria (Raimondi, ut supra). " Also called Vituya. Raimondi, Peril (Volume III, Lib. II, page 529). Altitude, 1963 meters or 6438 feet. ' In the Atlas del PerU by Raimondi, fol. 12, the altitude of the village is given at 2891 meters or 9482 feet. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 39 » Atlas ael Peru, Raimondi, fol. 7, the Aguarunas are placed S. of the great bend of the Maranon, about in Latitude 4,30°- ° It is usual to exaggerate the numbers of Indians roaming in the forests. Their constant shiftings are the cause of this. I have, for Instance, heard it gravely asserted, that the Campas or Chunclios num- bered hundreds of thousands. " It would not be easy, for instance, to identify many of the tribes mentioned by Tschudi, Peru, Beiseskiezen aus den Jahren XS38 — 18^2, (Vol. II, pp. 222 et seq.) with the names of clusters of wild Indians named in the Compendia Mstdrico de los Trabajos, Fatigas, Sudores y Muertes que los Ministros evang^lioos de la Serdflca Religion han pade- cido par la Conversion de las Almas de los Oentiles en las Montanas de los Andes, pertenecientes 6, las Provincias del Peru. (Lima, 1852, by Father Jos6 Amich, J.S. " Chacha, according to Tschudi, Die Keohua-Sprache, WorterluoJi (1853, page 232), means: "to shake the dust from clothes." For Chacha- poya, while he mentions the word (p. 233), he gives no translation. Nor does Father Diego Torres Rubio, Arte y VocaWlario de la Lengua Quichua (Lima, 1754). — In AymarS., Chacha means man or husband. See Father Ludovico Bertonio, Segunda Parte del Vocalulario Aymard (July 1612, fol. 68). — To-day, Puyu is used to designate a feather in Aymara and is so translated in the Vocabulario de las Voces usuales de Aymard al Castellano y Quichua (La Paz, 1894, page 17). There Is hardly any comfort to be derived from these data. But there is a singular statement by Garcilasso de la "Vega, in Comentarios reales (Volume I. I consult the Bditio princeps published at Lisbon in 1609 with colophon from 1608, Lib. VIII, Cap. II, folio 198). He calls the Ohachapoyas "Chachas" adding: "que tambien admitian este nombre." — Chacha, as stated, signifies man in Aymara. "Puhuyu" in Quichua, means cloud, mist, or fog. Garcilasso (fol. 197) also says that Father Bias Valera asserted Chachapuya to signify "place of strong men." Until otherwise informed I place no faith in this explanation. " Only names of localities are given, without direct reference to any tribal appellative, the example recorded in the note preceding excepted. See Antonio de Herrera: Bistoria general de los Heolws de los Castellanos en las Islas y la Tierra flrme del Mar Ociano (Edition of 1726, Vol. II, D6cada V, pages 74, 97, 172, etc.). But he also writes Chachapoyas. " Herrera, Historia general (Vol. II, D6cada V, page 171), puts the date of 1535. In the Primeros Descruirimientos y Conquistas de los Chachapuyas por el Capitan Alonso de Alvarado (in volume IV of the Relaciones geogrdflcas de Indias, Ultimo Ap§ndice, pages II et seq.,) no date is given, but tlie departure of Alvarado on this preliminary re- connoissance is placed : '"despues de haber (Pizarro) despedido en el Ousco & D. Diego de Almagro, que iba & su descubrimiento de Chiri- guana 6 de Chilli . . ." — The agreement between Pizarro and Almagro, subsequent to which Almagro left for Chile, bears date June 12, 1535, 40 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS hence Alvarado began his first journey to Chachapoyas, it seems, in the second half of that year. He was accompanied by thirteen men: Primeros Descuirimientos y oonquistas de los Chaohapuyas (page II). This expedition only went as far as Gochabamba (Idem p. Ill) : "y 61, despues de haber hablado largo con los senores y tomado dellos noticia de la tierra de adelante y esforzandolos con la amlstad, de los espanoles, vo]vi6 & Trujillo, de donde no par6 hasta la mar a informar al gobernador de lo que pasaba . . ." The Primeros Descubrimientos are taken from the third part of Cieza of Leon, Crdnioa del PerA M8. (page II). Following upon these chapters from Cieza is a Memoria de las Cosas primeras que aoonteoieron en los Chachapoyas, written by an Indian called Juan de Alvarado and in which It is said that Alonsa de Alvarado asked leave to explore Chachapoyas : "ano y medio, poco mas 6 menos, despues de poblada esta ciudad de Lima . . ." (page XIV.) The act of foundation of Lima bears date January 18, 1535: lAbro pri- mer o de CaMldos de Lima (Vol. I, Lima, 1888; page 10). This would place the first journey of Alvarado in the second half of 1536. I do not rely much on Indian dates ; they are usually vague. All that seems positive is that the expedition took place, either late In 1535 or early in 1536. — The late Don Marcos Jimenez de la Espada, editor of the in- valuable collection of Relaciones geogrdficas (already quoted). In Vol. IV, page XXVIII, assigns to the first expedition to Chachapoyas the date of 1535. '' The date of that settlement is given as 1536 by Cieza, Primsra Parte de la Crdnioa del Per^H, (in Vedia, Sistoriadores primitivos de Indias, Volume II, page 428). "Pobl6 y fund6 la ciudad de la Frontera de los Chachapoyas el capltan Alonso de Albarado en nombre de su majestad, siendo su gobernador del Perti el adelantado don Francisco Pizarro, afio de nuestra reparacion de 1536 anos." On page 469, Chap. IX of the Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista de la Provincia del Peru, y de las Chierras y Cosas sefialadas en ella, by Augustin de Zarate (in Vedia, Volume II, also), it is stated: "Mas adelante otras ochenta leguas hay una provincia que se dice de los Chachapoyas, donde hay una poblacion de cristianos que se intitula Levanto . . . Esta pro- vincia pobl6 de cristianos el mariscal Alonso de Albarado, a quien estaba encomendada." — ^zarate came to Peru in 1544 on an important mission. — Herrera, Mistoria general (Volume I, Descrlpclon, page 42) : "En esta Provincia entr6 el Mariscal Alonso de Alvarado, aSo de 1536 por 6rden del Marqugs Don Francisco Plcarro, 1 la paclficS, 1 pobl6 la dicha Ciudad en un sltlo fuerte, llamado Levanto, 1 lespues se pas6 a la Provincia de los Guancas." (Idem, Volume II, Decada V, page 174.) "Y poco despues de esto, quando Alonso de Alvarado accab6 de paclficar estas Provlncias, fund6 en ellas una Ciudad, que llam6 San Juan de la Frontera, en un sitio dlcho Levanto, Lugar aspero, 1 que para fabricar las Casas, fu6 necesarlo allanarle con Picos, aunque presto la mud6 a los Guancas, porque se hall6 ser Comarca mas sana."— Gwancos is now a very small place three miles north of Chachapoyas. — Jimenez de la Espada in Relaciones geogrdficas (Vol. IV, page XXIII) inclines to the NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 41 belief, that Chachapoyas was only founded In 1538, and it is indeed singular that no mention is made of the foundation in the Memoria, also that in the Tercera Parte de la Crdnioa del Per-A, (Chap. LXXXIV, quoted by Jimenez) It is stated that Alvarado "fund6 y pobl6 en el valle de Levanto la ciudad de la Frontera" after the battle of Salinas, April 1538! — In the Primeros DescubrlmAentos (page XII), Cieza states that Alvarado told the Indians that he would establish a Spanish town, after he had further explored the country. It is therefore likely that the opinion of the distinguished Spanish antiquarian is correct and 1538 the date we must accept for the foundation of Chachapoyas. If not, then the presumption arises that a preliminary settlement may have taken place at Levanto in 1536, which in 1538 was moved to the present site. In the Nota de las PoMaciones de Espanoles en el PerU, 1571 or 1572, (Vol. I, Relaciones geogrdficas, p. 56,) Chachapoyas is credited with 150 Spanish inhabitants which probably includes all in the country. In the Relacion de los Indios tributarios que hay al pre- sente en estos Reinos y Provincias del Peru, fecha por mandado del senor Marques de Oanete, la cual se hizo por Luis de Morales Figueroa, por el Libro de las Tasas de la Visita general, etc., (in Volume VI of the Ooleccion de Documentos iniditos del ArcMvo de Indias, page 55) Levanto is put down as containing fifty-one tributary Indians. This was between 1590 and 1596. " Cieza, Primera Parte (page 427). " Guaman or Huaman means hawk (Torres Rubico, Arte y Vocalu- tario, fol. 85). For these names see Primeros Desoubrimientos and also Herrera, Historia (Vol. II, Dedada V, Libro VI, Chap. 'XI and XII). There is a discrepancy in the spelling to which I do not assign the im- portance attached to it by Jimenez de la Bspada. The MSS. of Cieza also spells the same name in two different ways sometimes. »« The differences between local names given by Herrera, and those given by Cieza, are of more importance than those between personal names. Thus Herrera ha? (ut supra page 174) "Longiaymba," whereaa , the Primeros Descubrimientos (p. V) have "Longia E (italic my own) Xunbia." There is a hamlet called Lonya six miles west ofcthe eapitar (Chachapoyas). It is not clear whether the "Lonya" of Cieza is what to-day is called "Lonya chico," or "Lonya grande" which latter lies much further away, near the Marafion, and can hardly have been the place whence a hostile tribe came to attack those of LeVanto. Quita might be the Cheto of to-day, five miles- east of Levanto, Oli/llao of Herrera (p. 176) is OhiUo of Cieza. — In the Prooeso contra el Gapitan Alonso de Alvarado &ca (Documentos in4ditos para le Historia de Chile, vol. VII, p. 56) from 1545, a "cacique" of Chilla is mentioned. There is a place called Ohillo, in a handsome gorge of the Utcubamba river on the route from Balsas to Chachapoyas. Baguan may be Bagua, not far from the confluence of the Utcubamba with the Maranon. All these names would tend to indicate that Alvarado entered the region from northern Cajamarca. Raimondl, Per'6, (Volume I, page 78), at- tempts to trace the route which Alvarado followed to reach Chacha- 42 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS poyas. I add the possible identification of CMlio with the Chillo of to-day, although the observation of the distinguished naturalist, that •Chillao was mentioned jointly with Luya in the eighteenth century, is not to be overlooked. The Tonohe of Herrera and Cieza might be Sonche, in the vicinity of the capital. In the document already quoted : Belacion de los Indios tributarios ((pp. 55, &c.) there is, besides Le- banto, CMlcho, Sonche, Bagua, and a few more that resemble some in the authors mentioned, like: Ohoscon (Cosocon of Herrera), Charmal (Charrasmal of Herrera), and Chillao. Besides, Cascayungas and Guancas are mentioned. There is in the Memoria de las Cosas prime- ras (page XVI) an important statement by its author, the Indian Juan de Alvarado. He says : "desde Cuchabamba hasta Caxamarquilla ; hay trece leguas caminS toda la noche y prendiole antes que amaneciese." Hence the distance from Cajamarquilla to Cochabamba must have been quite short. He also states that the Indians from Cajamarquilla as far as Lamebamba (Leymebamba) "obedecigron a este Cacique." Now, Cajamarquilla or "little Cajamarca" lies south of Chachapoyas and west of the upper course of the Maranon. Cuchabamba must, from these indications, have been a short distance north of Cajamarquilla. It is also significant that Alvarado in every one of his journeys to ■Chachapoyas started from the coast at Trusillo, hence his shortest route entered the Chachapoyas region from the south, not from the west. '" The best evidence of contact between the Inca and the people of Chachapoyas in pre-Spanish times is the presence of Chachapoyas In- dians near Cuzco, where they were settled already before 1533. Cieza,' Primera Parte (page 427), writes of the Chachapoyas Indians near Cuzco as follows : "Y asi, despues que tuvigron sobre si el mando real del Inga, fuSron muchos al Cuzco por su mandado ; Monde les di6 tierras para labrar y lugares para casas no muy l§jos de un collado que estS, pegado S, la ciudad, llamado Carmenga. Y porque del todo no estaban pacificas las provincias de la serrania confinantes a los Chachapoyas, los ingas mandaron con ellos y con algunos orejones del Cuzco hacer frontera y guarnicion, para tenerlo todo seguro." — In 8e- gunda Parte he speaks of two attempts by the Inca to conquer Chacha- poyas. First by Tupac Yupanqui (page 211) : "Cuentan, sin esto, que entr6 por~lo de Guanuco y que mando hacer el palacio tan primo que hoy vSmos hecho ; que yendo a los Chachapoyas, le digron tanta guerra, que aina de todo punto los desbarataran, tales palabras les pudo decir, que eilos mismos se le ofrecigron." This would indicate a treaty of peace after indecisive fighting. His successor Huayna Capac, who died about 1526, made war upon the Chachapoyas again and was at first defeated (p. 244). "En los Chachapoyas hall5 Guayna Capac gran re- sistencia; tanto, que por dos veces volvifi huyendo desbaratado a los fuertes que para su defensa se hacian; y con favores que le vinifiron, se revolviO sobre los Chachapoyas y los quebrantS de tal manera, que pidieron paz, cesando por su parte la guerra. Di6se con condiclones provechosas al Inca, que mandO pasar muchos dellos a que residiesen NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 43 en el mesmo Cuzco, cuyos descendientes hoy viven en la mesma cludad; tom6 muchas mugeres, porque son hermosas y agraciadas y muy blan- cas; puso guarnlciones ordinarias con soldados mitimaes para quo estuviesen por frontera ; dej6 gobernador en lo principal de la comarca." Of that "gobernador" no trace Is found In the documents about the conquest by Alvarado. In the Memoria (page XIII), a "cacique prin- cipal" is mentioned "natural de Cuchapanba," but that Indian does not appear to have had any connection with the Cuzco tribe than that of a compulsory or voluntary ally. Alvarado the Indian speaks of a "gobernador del Inca" at Oajamarqtiilla, at the time of. the great up- rising in 1536. With the same right the chiefs of the Pottowatomies, Chippewas, etc. might be called "viceroys" of Pontiac. — Garcilasso de la Vega, Comentarios (Vol. I, Lib. VIII, Chap. II and III, fol, 199 to 200) gives an account of the conquest of Chachapoyas by the Cuzco people led by Tupac Tnc^ Yupanqui. He overreaches the limits of credibility by claiming that the Inca reached Moyobamba, from Lla- vantu (Levanto), where he says they had established themselves. Of the buildings which he states the Incas erected in Chachapoyas there Is no trace, unless the small building seen by me near Levanto is of Inca origin. The notice of events at Chachapoyas previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, by Miguel Cabello Balboa in his Misceldnea Austral, hardly deserves quotation. That Indians from Chachapoyas dwelt at or near Cuzco, at the time the Spaniards first entered the settlement, is well established. I refer to the above quotations from Cieza. But their number was not large. According to a letter written by the vice-roy Don Francisco de Toledo to the king, from Cuzco, September 24, 1572 (Belaciones geogrd- flcas, Volume II, page XI, note 6), the number of Chachapoyas and ( !) Cailares (the latter were from southern Ecuador) was then about five hundred. They were, although living at Cuzco, "grandes enemigos de la nacion de los Ingas." Descripcion de la Ciudad de La Plata, Cuzco y Guamanga, y otros PueWos Del PerU,. (Rel. Geograf., Vol. II, p. XI). The same document says : "En el Cuzoo hay dos parcialidades de indios que llaman Canares y Chachapoyas, que son traidos alii de los llanos de la provincia de Quito, los cuales se digron a los cristianos en tiempo de la conquista y por ello son reservados de tribute." — In the Informa- ciones acerca del Senorio y GoMerno de los Ingas, 1570 — 1572, Madrid, 1882, together with the Memorias Antiguas Historiales y PoUticas del Per4 of Montesinos (p. 212) , there is mentioned an Indian, "Don Martin Vilca, chachapoya, de mas de 80 afios; que dijo que Guayna Capac lo trajo de los Chachapoyas & estos tgrminos del Cuzco." In the Informa- cion de las Idolatrias de los Incas 4 indios y de coma se enterratan, &ca (Documentos inMitos de Indias, Vol. XXI, page 137) : "Otro yndio dijo llamarse Juanapicardo, natural que dijo ser de los Chachapoyas y que esta en Savangai, tfirminos del Cuzco, y que hera criado su padre de Guaynacapal, y tenia noventa afios" (page 149), two more are named, one of whom was a "Cacique" (also page 164). — In the Orde- 44 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS nanzas que el senor Viso-Rey Don Francisco de Toledo Mzo para el tuen goMerno de estos Reynos del Peru y Repiiblioas de el {Relaciones de los Vireyes y Audiencias que han goternado el Peru, Iiima, 1867, Titulo XXIII, page 93, Vol. I), the Chachapoyas and Canares of Cuzco are mentioned as exempt from tribute to the king of Spain, because they had "servido en la guerra, en tiempo de la conquista, como de otros muchos que se les habian llegado, debajo de la dicha ocasion." '" Informaoiones acerca del Senorio y Gobierno de los Ingas (page 207.) One of the witnesses is "don Diego Lucana, principal de los mitimaes Canaris y Chachapoyas y Llaguas, que estan en el reparti- miento de los Lurinhuancas, en la Purificacion de Huacho." — In 1590 — 1596 there were Chachapoyas Indians, together with Canaris, as tributary Indians in the District of Truxillo: Relacion de los Indios tributarios (page 44). Their number Is given as thirty. It is note- worthy that, wliile in Truxillo the Chachapoyas paid tribute, they were exempt from it in Cuzco. The establishment of "Mitimaes" or "Miti- mas" at Copacavana is attributed by Ramos, Historia de Copacabana y de su milagrosa Imdjen de la Virjen (La Paz, 1860, Chap. 7, page 9), to Tupac Yupanqul, but with such a formidable list of tribal and local names appended that the exaggerations are manifest. (The book quoted is a quasi re-print of Ramos by Father Rafael Sans. Some of the first chapters of Ramos are lacking. The remainder was com- pared by the RRd. Bishop of La Paz, Fray Nicolas Armentia, with an original edition at Sucre and found to be correct with few exceptions. I do not hesitate therefore to quote the above as due to the pen of Ramos. '^ The exaggerations in numbers and misrepresentation of the na- ture of these so-called colonies are very great. Mitma signifies "a comer from the outside," or one brought from the outside — Torres Rubio, Arte y Vocabulario (fol. 160) ; Tschudi, Worterbuch (page 392). In Aymara, Mithma means a stranger or foreigner, one who is not a native of the place. Nothing in the original sense of the word implies a forcible transfer to the site where the Mithma is located, neither in Quichua nor in Aymara. See, in regard to Aymara: Bertonio, Vocabulario (fol. 218). It is to Cieza that a much exaggerated account of the Mitimas or Mitma or Mitmac is due. Segunda Parte (Chap. XXII). He dedicates that chapter to a refutation of an anterior statement by Francisco Lopez de Gomara. Historia general de las Indias (in Vedia, Histor. primitivos &ca, Volume I, page 274). Gomara states that the Mitimas were slaves, whereas Cieza makes of them an institution framed by the Incas about the middle of the fifteenth century. This would imply a rather recent origin. Neither Gomara nor Cieza are fully in the right. There were few "slaves," if any, among the Peruvian Indians, as there was but little labor to perform by other than by members of the clan or household. As to Cieza, his admiration for the Inca led him Into gross exaggerations. If the Mitimas were an "institution" founded by the Inca within less than a century previous to the advent of the NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 45 Spaniards, it is impossible that his picture of the magnitude of the "colonies" should be anything like true. Juan de Betanzos, author of the important work entitled Suma y Narracion de los Incas que los indios llaman Capaccuna &ca, unfortunately incomplete, was a con- temporary of Cieza and had the superior advantage of being a resident of Cuzco and married to an Indian girl from the Inca tribe. He no- where, in his prolix reports on the doings of Yupanqui (to whom Oieza attributes the idea of the Mitimas), mentions the establishment of such a "policy." But as stated, only part of the work of Betanzos is, either accessible or in existence. Zirate, Eistoria (Chap. XII, page 472) : "En conquistando alguna provincia, la primera cosa que hacia era pasar todos los vasallos, 6 los mas principales, a otra poblacion antigua, a poblar aquella tierra de los indios ya sujetos, y desta ma- nera lo aseguraba todo. Y esta tal gente que remudaba de unas tierras en otras llamaban mitimaes." Zarate, who came to Peru thirteen years subsequent to the landing of Pizarro, already increases, the exag- gerations of Oieza. His statement is only a repetition of that contained in Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdgs: Eistoria general y natural de Indias (reprint by Don JosS Amador de los Rios, Madrid, 1855, Volume IV, Lib. XLVI, Chap. XVII, page 227), "6 para tener seguras las provinclas 6 pueblos que ponia debaxo de su dominio, hi90 que las gentes 6 veclnos de una provincia fuessen a vivir a la otra, g por lexos que fuesse lo uno de lo otro, los trocaba." It will be observed that the establishment of Mitimas as a policy is here attributed to the Inca war-chief who died about 1526, or half a century later than Cieza puts it. Oviedo had his information from Spaniards who were in Peru in the fourth decade of the sixteenth century. In twenty years or less such a measure could not have been enforced to the extent claimed. — From official documents from the second half of the sixteenth century it results that the Mitimas were not by far as numerous nor as widely distributed. The Desoripcion y Belacion de la Provincia de los Yauyos toda, Anan Yauyos y Lorin Yauyos, hecha por Diego Ddvila Brimeno, corregidor de G-uarocheri, 1586 (Bel. geogrdf., Vol. I, page 62), speaks of Mitimaes Chocorios. The Chocorbos were simply neighbors of Yauyos who trespassed on the range of the latter, after both had been overrun by the Inca. The same is the case in the district or (Spanish) province of Jauja. Desoripcion que se %izo en la provincia de Xauxa doa, by Andrgs de Vega, 1582 (Ibidem, page 93), where Indians from Yauyos had established themselves. Desoripcion fecfia de la provincia de Viloas Guaman, by Don Pedro de Carbajal, 1586 (Ibid., page 168). "Todos estos indios desta provincia son indios advenedizos y tras- puestos por el Inga del Cuzco." He excepts four villages. There are a number of other oflBcial reports of the same period on other provinces, only one of which mentions Mitimas. The Desoripcion y Relation de la Giudad de La Paz, 1586 (Rel. geogrdf.. Vol. II, page 80), speaks of Copacavana, but without referring to Mitimas. In the Relacion que eniid d mandar su magestad se hiziese desta ciudad de Cuenca y de toda su provincia, by Antonio Bello Gayoso in 1582 (Bel. geogr.. Vol. 46 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS III, page 171), there is the following statement concerning the Canares of southern Ecuador: "Y a esta causa se llamaron estos naturales de Ids tSrminos de Cuenca Canares, y asl hablan la dicha lengua de los cafiares entrellos y la conversan; pero todos saben y hablan la lengua del Inga general, y entre nosotros y otras gentes tratan y conversan con la dicha lengua; porque dicen quel Inga expresamente les mandaba que la hablasen, y para ello pobl6 por aqui gente del Cueco, que agora llamanos Mitimas; que quiere decir, 'traspuestos de una provinca en otra," y asi tienen y estdn cerca deste pueblo un pueblo llamado Ooxitambo, donde estan los dichos mitimas ; y quiere decir Ooxitambo, 'asiento dichoso' ; de los cuales deprendieron la lengua general conque agora se tratan entre nosotros." There seems to have been an exchange, some of the Canares removing to Cuzco, and Quichuas settling in southern Ecuador. — The Belaciones geogrdflcas contain over thirty official descriptions of as many separate districts of Peru, from the years 1582 to 1586, and those above are the only ones mentioning Mitimas. The Relacion de los Indios tributarios (1591, pages 43, 44, 55, 56 and 59), mentions, in all Peru, including Ecuador and Bolivia, twenty-one settlements of Mit- imas : five in the district of Lima, six in that of Truxillo, six in Hua- manga, one in Huanuco, two in Chachapoyas, and one in Ecuador among the CaSaris. The total number is given at 2,429 tributary In- dians or a little over eight thousand souls. This is very far from the statement of Cieza, Primer a Parte de la Crdnica (Chap. XLI, page 393) : "que luego que conquistaban una provincia destas grandes man- daban salir 6 passar de alii diez 6 doce mil hombres con sus mujeres, 6 seis mil, 6 la cantitad que querian." The gross exaggeration is plain. That remnants of tribes were removed, after an Inca foray, to a dis- tant region is very likely. Such transfers also occurred in Mexico and among the North-American Indians. — Garcilasso de la Vega who, in some cases, is even more exuberant than Cieza, after giving a glowing picture of the "colonies" planted by the Inca, states about the "Miti- maes" (Comentarios reales, Vol. I, fol. 165) : "Y esto he lo dicho porque en estos Collas, y en todos los mas valles del Perfl, que por ser frios no eran tan fertiles y abundantes como los pueblos caiidos y bien prou- cidos : mandaron que pues la gran serrania de los Andes comarcaua con la mayor parte de los pueblos, que de cada vmo saliesse cierta can- tidad de Yndios con sus mugeres, y estos tales, puestos en las partes que sus Caciques les mandauan y senalaban, labrauan los campos, en donde sembrauan lo que faltaua en sus naturalezas, proueyendo con el fruto que cogian a sus seSores 6 capitanes, y eran llamados Mit- imaes." On page 166 he says: "Trasplantauan los tambien por otro respeto y era, quando auian conquistado alguna prouincia belicosa, de quien se temia que por estar 16xos del Cozeo, y por ser de gente feroz y braua, no aula de ser tan leal . . . y muchas vezes la sacauan toda, y la passauan a otra prouincia de las domgsticas. ... A todos estos Yndios trocados desta manera llamauan Mitmac, assi a los q lleuauan como a los que traya, quiere dezir trasplantados, 6 aduenedizos que todo es vno." — Settlements of Mitimas in the low-lands were few since NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 47 the Indian from the high plateaux does not easily resist a change of climate from cold to hot. The Inverse also Is detrimental to him, though not in the same degree. Settlement of foreign Indians on the range of other, even distant tribes, is always possible and various causes may lead to it. The Iroquois (with whose methods of conquest those of the Incas have much greater analogy than commonly sup- posed) allowed the Tuscaroras and the Mohetunnucks, and a part of the New England tribes (upon whom they had made bloody war) to settle within their hunting grounds and "their possessions were sub- sequently secured to each band by treaty." (Lewis H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois, pages 44 and 45.) The Erles, or rather a part of them, were incorporated with the Senecas (Morgan, Systems of Consanguinity and Afflnity of the Human Family, 1871, page 152). It is noteworthy, that with the exception of the Inca warriors that had been compelled, through distance and inevitable long absence from Cuzco, to settle in Ecuador, there are very few traces of Inca settlements outside of the Cuzco range. In this also, the analogy with the Iroquois (and with the ancient Mexicans) is striking. Herrera, Historia general (Volume II, Decada V, page 83), considers the Mitimas as "soldiers" chosen from foreign tribes on account of greater fidelity. The bitter feeling that prevailed among the few hundreds of CaSares and Chachapoyas near Cuzco, against the Inca is hardly in favor of this view. '^ The names indicate it already. Pumacocha means "Lake of the Puma," and Leymebamba is a corruption of Baymi-Pampa : plain or level of the dance called Baymi, said to have been the most important one celebrated every year. It is not improbable that Leymebamba was on the confines of Qulchua-speaking tribes north of Huanuco, and it is well to note that its people are called Mitimas in 1591 {Belacion de los Indios tributarios, page 55). ^ That Leymebamba was peopled when Alvarado came to Chacha- poyas is plain from the Memoria de las cosas primeras, by Juan de Al- varado ( Bel. Geogrdf., Volume IV, page XV). From the manner in which he mentions the willingness of the people of that vicinity to listen to the messages of Mango Inca, to rise against the Spaniards, it seems probable that they were Quichua Indians. Nevertheless, Gar- cilasso assures us (Comentarios, Volume I, fol. 199) : "De alii pass6 ocho leguas conquistando todos los pueblos que haU6, hasta vn pueblo de los principales que llama Raymipampa que quiere dezir campo de la fiesta y pasqua principal del Sol, llamada Raymi, y porque Tupac Inca Yupanqui, auiendo ganado aquel pueblo que esta en vn her- mosissimo valle, celebr6 en el campo aquella fiesta del Sol, le Uamaron assi, qultadole el nombre antiguo que tenia . . . ." How far this state- ment, that Leymebamba had another name 'before the Inca visited it, is true, I cannot ascertain. Neither can I find anything reliable con- cerning Pumacocha. The Belacion de los Indios tributarios (page 56) ascribes to "Pomacocha" 127 tributary Indians in 1591. " Xalca, as "Laxalca," is contained in the list of tributary Indians from 1591 (page 56). Garcilasso, Com. reales (I, folio 199) speaks of 48 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS Suta as three leagues from Leymebamba. This would correspond to the Suta of to-day approximately. Jalca lies in the Puna a short dis- tance above Suta. The two-storied circular buildings might be in reality composed of a massive base with an upper tier that was in- habited, as at Kuelap and Macro. == Garcilasso, Comentarios (I, Lib. VIII, fol. 197), claims that in primitive times the Chachapoyas wore a sling around the head as dis- tinctive headdress. More than one tribe from the Sierra wore slings as headbands. " See Decreto of July 4, 1825, and the previous one of April 8, 1824. These dispositions were often changed, especially in Bolivia. ^ Herrera, Historia general (Volume II, D6cada V, page 172), describes a dance which the Indians of Cochabamba performed on the arrival of Alvarado at their village. Cochabamba, as we have seen, did not pertain to the Chachapoyas region, but there is hardly any doubt that the Chachapoyas had similar customs. The dance is also mentioned in Primeros Descu'brimientos (p. Ill) when it is stated the Indians were decorated with gold and silver ornaments. To-day the Quichua Indians of CJiarassani In northern Bolivia still wear, while dancing, ornaments of silver and gold, especially the women. ^ About the religious ideas of the Chachapoyas we know almost nothing. Garcilasso, Comentarios (Vol. I, fol. 197) : "Estos Chacha- puyas adorauan culebras, y tenia al aue Cuntur por su principal Dies." On folio 199 he mentions the Indians of Huancabamba. Huancabamba lies in the Department of Cajamarca northwest of Chachapoyas, west of the Maranon. That the customs were the same is, while not un- likely, not proven as yet. "En su religion fueron tan bestlales 6 mas que en su vida moral, adorauan muchos dioses, cada nacion, cada capitania, 6 quadrilla, y cada, casa tenia el suyo. Vnos adorauan anl- males, otros aues, otros yeruas y plantas, otros cerros, fuentes, y rios, cada lo q se le autojaua : sobre lo qual tambien auia grandes batallas, y pendencias en comun y particular sobre qual de sus Dioses era el major." This holds good not alone for that particular region, but for the Peruvian Indians in general ; the Inca not excepted, although Gar- cilasso would have us believe the latter stood on a much higher plane. ™ Comentarios reales (I, fol. 213) : "Del arbolillo que los Es- panoles llaman Tabaco, y los Yndios Sayri . . ." Father Bernab& Cobo, S.J., Historia del Nuevo Mundo (completed 1653 and published for the first time in Sevilla in 1890, Volume I, Lib. IV, Chap. LVI, pages 402 to 405), distinguishes two kinds: "uno hortense, que es el que aqui hS pintado, y otro, salvaje, que nace en lugares incultos, el cual no crece tan alto ni produce tan grandes hojas, pero es de mas fuerte y eficaz virtud que el hortense." — I saw much wild tobacco in Amazonas. Cobo regards tobacco as highly medicinal, even the roots of the wild species, of which he says (p. 403) : "A la ralz del tabaco silvestre llaman los indios del Peril, Coro, de la cual usan para muchas enfermodades." Of tobacco in general he asserts (p. 405) : "En la lengua general del Peril se llama Sayri." He mentions a plant called Topasayri, the pow- NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 49 der of which is sternutative: "que son mas eflcaces para esto que los del Tabaco. Y mucho mas fuertes que los unos y los otros son unos polvos blancos de clerta planta que venden en la plaza de Mfixlco los Indios herbolarios." The latter is evidently Hellebore, such as the Callauaya Indians from Curva in Bolivia to-day peddle and sell as a cure for headache. Cobo also mentions the use of cornmeal by the medicine men, and of maize in general (Volume IV, page 140) : "Para las enfermedades muy graves que con las mediclnas y curas comunes no sanaban, hacian los hechiceros meter al enfermo en un aposento secrete, que primero preparaban desta manera: llmpiSbanlo muy bien, y para purificallo, tomaban en las manos Main negro y traianlo refregando con el las parades y suelo, soplando a todas partes migntras esto hacian, y luego quemaban el Maiz en el mismo aposento, y tomando luego Maiz bianco, hacian lo mismo, y despues asperjaban todo el aposento con agua re- vuelta con harina de Maiz, y de esta suerte los puriflcaban." "' On the Island of Titicaca my wife once hurt herself by striking against a rock In the ruins. The medicineman who was her steady companion and assistant in the excavations she conducted, insisted she should eat a piece of the rock, lest it hurt her again. When children are set on the ground before the age at which they are allowed to be taken into the fields, they are made to swallow some of the earth on which they are placed. The Aymarfi, Shamans call the spirit they In- voke at night in the fields, "son of a guinea-pig." " The Haoha-Tata or great Shamans of the Aymarfi, in Bolivia, at this day keep owls for purposes of witchcraft. Cobo, Sistoria del Nuevo Mimdo (Vol. IV, page 149) : "Cuando oian cantar Lechuzas, Buhos 6 otras aves extranas, 6 aullar Perros, lo tenian por mal agiiero y presagio de su muerte 6 de la de sus hijos 6 vectnos, y particularmente de la de aquel en cuya casa 6 lugar cantaban 6 aullaban; y solian ofrecerles Coca y otras cosas, pldi^ndoles que danasen y matasen a sus enemigos y no a ellos." "" This belief to-day obtains in the Chincha valley, south of Lima. The turkey-buzzard, on the coast, approaches dwellings with the greatest unconcern. '' Eslabon means, in old Spanish, a piece of iron used to strike fire with, and the shape of the trousers may have given rise to the name. For definition compare : Primera Parte del Tesoro de la Lengua castel- lana, 6 espanola, by Sebastian de Covarruvias Orozco (Madrid, 1674, fol. 261). It was originally written (at least sometimes) Eslavon. " Relacion de los Indios triiutarios (ut supra). The population of Moyobaniba Is given at 678 men, or about 2300 in all (p. 57). == Vt Supra. " Relacion (p. 56). " Camdjian lies near Molino-Pampa, about ten miles north of east of Chachapoyas. The ruins were stated to be without protective walls. The word Is unintelligible to me, neither could any of my informants explain it in Quichua. 50 THE INDIANS AND ABORIGINAL RUINS ™ Yauhcan Is said to be near Longuita on the west side of the Vtcubamba stream, about four miles west of Ku61ap in a direct line. All my distances are given after the Atlas del Perii, by A. Eaimondi, fol. 7 and 12, and indicate air lines. By trail, owing to the broken nature of the surface, they are very much greater. The ruins of Tauhcan are said to be buried in tall timber. I find, no etymology to the word in Quichua nor in Aymara ; still It might also be Llaucan. " Torres Ruble, Arte dca. (fol. 159) has: "el alto 6 sobrado de vna casa." — ^An upper story or loft. Tsehudi, Worteriuch (page 374), de- fines the word as "village." In Aymara, Marca Is village, "pueblo." Bertonio, Vocabulario (I, fol. 387; II, 217). " Ralmondl, El Peru (Volume II, page 528), gives for the ruins of Malca, according to Werthemann, 2938 meters or 9637 feet. On the Atlas (fol. 12) he has 3072 meters. Tingo, Werthemann places at 1742 meters or 5714 feet, hence the difference between the ruins and the Ut- cubamba is 4362' feet. I cannot ascertain the degree of reliability of these figures, not being able to find out what Instruments were used. " In the pamphlet entitled Bienes de la Beneficencia de la Capital del Departamento de Amazonas (Lima, 1876, pages 72 and 76), I find recorded the following two documents: Between the years 1740 and 1744. — Venta d censo por pagar cada tercio JfO pesos por la hacienda de Cu&ap d Juan Jos6 Franco, por los Reverendos Padres de la Merced. Between 1826 and 1830. — Cesion. Juan Manuel y Juan Jos6 Oyarce, de la hacienda de Cu6lap d la Merced. " Relacion de los Indios trihutarios (pages 55 and 56). " (IMdem) — In the second part of the Liiro de Gabildos de Lima (Volume II), this document is published under the strange title of Relacion de las Enoomiendas existentes en el Peru cuando praotiod la visita 4 hizo el reparto general el Virrey D: Francisco de Toledo (pages 137 to 151) . The editor asserts it to be the document contained In Volume I (should be VI) of the Documentos in4ditos, and in Volume II of the Memorias de los Vireyes y Audiencias que han goiernado el Peru (Madrid, 1871, pages 311, etc.). I cannot explain the important difference in the title. The Note in the latter two volumes says that the copy Is from a MS. in Volume IV of the MSS. of the Marqufis del Risco and that the volume also contains the "visita" by Toledo. — It Is either an unpardonable error of Munoz, from whose pen the above note comes, or else the editor of the Liiro de Gaiildos has committed an impardonable blunder. The reputation of Juan Bautista Munoz, his carefulness and exceptional familiarity with the archives of his country, makes it highly improbable that he should have confounded the census of 1591 with the one by Toledo sixteen years previous, and this throws a grave doubt also on any of the changes which the editor of the Libro de Cabildos has made as "corrections" of the two publi- cations. Thus in place of "Conilap" he puts "Canilap" (p. 149). Luya lies farther north of Ku61ap than Chachapoyas. NEAR CHACHAPOYAS IN NORTHERN PERU 51 ** It was said to be contained in a document at Truxlllo. " I afterwards saw several of them. *• Like the "snmmer-puehlos" of the New Mexican Indians. " Torres Rubio, Arte (fol. 100). In Aymarft, Sntttur Uta is given by Bertotto (Vocahulario, II, p. 328) : "Casa que tiene el teche quadrado sin moxinete." " Compare K. G. Squier, Peru (1877, p. 302 et seq.). * This is manifestly an invention. " All the corpses found in burials supposed to be ancient are called "Mummies" in Peru. '^ B. B. Tyler, Early History of ilankind (1878, Chapter XI). °" Garcilasso de la Vega, Comeiitarios (Vol. I, fol. 199). Primeros Descuirimientos y Congviitas de los Chaohapuyas (pages Y, YI, XII). Also Juan de Alvarado, Memoria de las Cosas primeras (p. XV, &c.). " Chlringote is south of KuClap and near Leymebamba, Qulllay about midways between the two places. Conilo north, and west of Chaehapoyas. Such a scattering is of course possible, but there is no evidence of it. " I cannot find anything that would recall Kudlap, neither in the document of Alvarado, nor in Cieza, nor in Herrera. " This word I cannot find either in Quichua or. in Aymara. °° Bat An is the common word in Peru and western South America in general, for the handmill or substitute of the Mexican Metate. " Chhahnar, according to Torres Kubio, Arte y Vocahulario (fol. 79), means some kind of fibre, also hemp of flax. — ^Tschudl, Worter- buoh (p. 234) : "eine Art Bast, aus dem die Indianer Ihre Stricke machen." Hence fibre of almost any kind. ■* Santo Tomas de Qulllay lies, according to Raimondi, Mapa del Peru (fol. 12), 2691 meters (9482 feet) above sea level. The name may be from Qvilla, "moon," in Quichua. In Aymara, Quillay is the name of a plant used extensively for cleaning and called In Peru Tarsana. Raimondi, Elementos de Botdnica (Lima. 1857), says it is Quillaya smegmadermos. ™ "Pomacocha" is mentioned in the Relacion of 1591 (p. 56) with 127 tributary Indians or about 450 souls. °° At the village of Jalca, above Suta. " Raimondi, Mapa (fol. 12), places Tanibo Tiejo 1913 meters or 6274 feet above Balsas on the Maranon. " There was then a plan to change the course of that road or trail to Qolldn, but I opposed it strongly. «= 948 meters, Mapa del Peru (fol. 12). °* Borja, at the mouth of the Pongo, lies in Lat. 4° 28' 30" South, and Long. 77° 50' 40" West, according to Werthemann. Raimondi, Per