XL] THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 423 



to these studies, and Quechuan is now recognised as a stock 

 language of the usual American type, unconnected with any other 

 except that of the Bolivian Aymaras. Even this connection is 

 regarded by some students as verbal rather than structural, an 

 interchange of a considerable number of terms being easily ex- 

 plained by the close contact in which the two peoples have dwelt 

 since prehistoric times. But on the other hand one of the national 

 traditions of the Quechuas themselves traces their cradle to the 

 southern shores and islands of Lake Titicaca, that _ 



Quecnua- 



is, the hallowed region which is intimately asso- Aymara 

 ciated with the earliest reminiscences of both races. 

 The very island which gives its name to the lake is the "Tiger 

 Rock 1 ,'' the former abode of a huge jaguar who, like the dragon 

 of the Pamir, wore in his head a great jewel which illumined the 

 whole lake. Later, when the tiger had disappeared from the 

 sacred islet, there emerged from its cavernous recesses the sun- 

 born Manco-Capac, first of the Incas, bearing a golden bough 

 which he had received from the divine orb, with the injunction to 

 walk on and on till he reached a spot where the emblem of the 

 Incas' future glories would take root in the ground. Here was 

 founded the renowned city of Cuzco, first seat of the dynasty and 

 capital of the Tavantisuyan (Peruvian) 2 monarchy. 



Apart from the supernatural elements, what weight can be 

 attached to these traditions on the Titicaca origin of the Incas 

 and their people? On the authority of Garcilaso de la Vega, 

 himself of Inca lineage, they are accepted by most inquirers into 

 Peruvian origins, who fail to perceive that, if true, then the 

 Quechuas must be of Aymara stock, the Titicaca lands being 

 beyond all question within the domain of the Aymara race. But 

 the general assumption is that the Quechuas are and always 

 have been the dominant people, and that they were the builders 

 of the stupendous Tiahuanaco monuments on the 

 southern shores of the lake, and not far from the 

 holy island in the very heart of Aymaraland. Now 

 it is this very assumption, involving the transfer of a whole culture 



1 Titi, "tiger," i.e. jaguar; caca, "rock." 



2 Pent, a term introduced by the Spaniards, is unknown to the natives, who 

 call the land Tavantisuyn, i.e. "The Four Quarters" (of the world). 



