They Are All Dressed In A Similar Manner, Having No Distinctions Except In Their Head-Dresses, According To Rank Or The Different Districts Of The Country; Some Wearing A Tuft Of Wool, Others A Single Cord, And Others Several Cords Of Different Colours.

All the Indians of the plain are distributed into three orders; the first named _Yungas_, the second _Tallanes_, and the third _Mochicas_.

Every province has its own peculiar language or dialect, different from all the rest. But all the caciques or principal people and nobles of the country, besides the language peculiar to their respective countries or districts, were obliged to understand and speak the language of Cuzco. One of the Peruvian kings, named Huana Capac, the father of Atahualpa or Atabalipa, was much displeased that the caciques and principal people of his empire should be under the necessity of employing interpreters when they had occasion to speak to him; and gave orders that all the caciques and their relatives should send their children to reside at court, to be instructed in the language of Cuzco which was spoken by the Incas. This was the ostensible reason of the measure; but in reality he wished to have these children in his power, to serve as hostages for the loyalty of their parents. By this means, all the nobles of the land came to understand the peculiar language of Cuzco which was spoken at court; just as in Flanders all the nobles and persons of any rank speak French. Owing to this circumstance, as the Spaniards have learnt the language of the Incas, or of Cuzco, they are able to converse with all the principal natives of Peru, both those of the mountain and of the plain.

It may appear difficult to some of my readers to comprehend why no rain should fall in the plain of Peru, considering that the country is bounded along the whole of one side by the sea, where many vapours are constantly ascending, and on the other side by a vast range of mountain which is always enveloped in rain or snow. Those who have carefully considered this singular phenomenon, allege that it is occasioned by the continual prevalence of a strong south-west wind all along the coast and over the whole plain of Peru, which carries off all the vapours which rise from the sea and the land, without allowing them to rise sufficiently high in the air to gather and fall down again in rain. From the tops of the high mountains, these vapours are often seen far beneath on the plain in thick clouds, while all is quite clear and serene on the mountain. By the perpetual blowing of the same wind, the waters of the South-sea have a constant current along the coast to the northward. Others allege a different reason for this current; saying, that the water of the South-sea having only a narrow outlet at the straits of Magellan, which are only two leagues broad, and being there opposed by the Atlantic Ocean, they are forced to return to the northward along the coast of Chili and Peru.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 284 of 421
Words from 148759 to 149283 of 221091