The History of the Conquest of Peru | Page 9

the wedge speedily sank into the earth and disappeared for ever. Here
the children of the Sun established their residence, and soon entered
upon their beneficent mission among the rude inhabitants of the
country; Manco Capac teaching the men the arts of agriculture, and
Mama Oello 8 initiating her own sex in the mysteries of weaving and
spinning. The simple people lent a willing ear to the messengers of
Heaven, and, gathering together in considerable numbers, laid the
foundations of the city of Cuzco. The same wise and benevolent
maxims, which regulated the conduct of the first Incas, 9 descended to
their successors, and under their mild sceptre a community gradually
extended itself along the broad surface of the table-land, which asserted
its superiority over the surrounding tribes. Such is the pleasing picture
of the origin of the Peruvian monarchy, as portrayed by Garcilasso de
la Vega, the descendant of the Incas, and through him made familiar to
the European reader.10
But this tradition is only one of several current among the Peruvian
Indians, and probably not the one most generally received. Another
legend speaks of certain white and bearded men, who, advancing from
the shores of Lake Titicaca, established an ascendancy over the natives,
and imparted to them the blessings of civilization. It may remind us of
the tradition existing among the Aztecs in respect to Quetzalcoatl, the
good deity, who with a similar garb and aspect came up the great
plateau from the east on a like benevolent mission to the natives. The
analogy is the more remarkable, as there is no trace of any
communication with, or even knowledge of, each other to be found in
the two nations.11
The date usually assigned for these extraordinary events was about four
hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards, or early in the
twelfth century.12 But, however pleasing to the imagination, and
however popular, the legend of Manco Capac, it requires but little
reflection to show its improbability, even when divested of supernatural
accompaniments. On the shores of Lake Titicaca extensive ruins exist
at the present day, which the Peruvians themselves acknowledge to be

of older date than the pretended advent of the Incas, and to have
furnished them with the models of their architecture.13 The date of
their appearance, indeed, is manifestly irreconcilable with their
subsequent history. No account assigns to the Inca dynasty more than
thirteen princes before the Conquest. But this number is altogether too
small to have spread over four hundred years, and would not carry back
the foundations of the monarchy, on any probable computation, beyond
two centuries and a half,-an antiquity not incredible in itself, and which,
it may be remarked, does not precede by more than half a century the
alleged foundation of the capital of Mexico. The fiction of Manco
Capac and his sister-wife was devised, no doubt, at a later period, to
gratify the vanity of the Peruvian monarchs, and to give additional
sanction to their authority by deriving it from a celestial origin.
We may reasonably conclude that there existed in the country a race
advanced in civilization before the time of the Incas; and, in conformity
with nearly every tradition, we may derive this race from the
neighborhood of Lake Titicaca; 14 a conclusion strongly confirmed by
the imposing architectural remains which still endure, after the lapse of
so many years, on its borders. Who this race were, and whence they
came, may afford a tempting theme for inquiry to the speculative
antiquarian. But it is a land of darkness that lies far beyond the domain
of history.15
The same mists that hang round the origin of the Incas continue to
settle on their subsequent annals; and, so imperfect were the records
employed by the Peruvians, and so confused and contradictory their
traditions, that the historian finds no firm footing on which to stand till
within a century of the Spanish conquest.16 At first, the progress of the
Peruvians seems to have been slow, and almost imperceptible. By their
wise and temperate policy, they gradually won over the neighboring
tribes to their dominion, as these latter became more and more
convinced of the benefits of a just and well-regulated government. As
they grew stronger, they were enabled to rely more directly on force;
but, still advancing under cover of the same beneficent pretexts
employed by their predecessors, they proclaimed peace and civilization
at the point of the sword. The rude nations of the country, without any

principle of cohesion among themselves, fell one after another before
the victorious arm of the Incas. Yet it was not till the middle of the
fifteenth century that the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui, grandfather of
the monarch who occupied the throne at the coming of the Spaniards,
led his armies across the terrible