216 Hov: Ancient America Wrote. 



letters was known and the Araautas taught the art of writing on 

 leaves of the plantain, but that under Titu Yupanqui, the«64th sov- 

 ereign, civil disturbances caused the loss of hitters, and that the 78th 

 sovereign prohibited his people from making use of the quillca, sub- 

 stituting the knotted cords instead,* There are still many of the 

 pictographic relics extant. Tschudi discovered, in the ruins of a build- 

 ing near Huari, a stone tablet with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and the 

 walls of the palace of ilacao are similarly ornamented. Rivero found, 

 near Arequipa and Huaytaca engravings in granite representing ani- 

 mals, flowers and fortifications; Bollaert saw pintados in the peninsula 

 of Copakukava, (near Tarapaca) and in the Pampa del Leon, and 

 refers to a large stone pillar, between Mendoza and La Punta, 150 feet 

 high, called the " giant," which contains certain marks or inscriptions 

 resembling Chinese characters. He also mentions another one near 

 the Diamond river, called by the Spaniards "Stone of St Thomas," con- 

 taining the impression of a man's feet, together with the figures of 

 several animals, and some marks which appear to be ciphers or char- 

 acters. Raymond has copied several other engravings found near the 

 sea coast. 



The mystic characters over the monolithic door of the magnificent 

 building of Tiaguanacu, and on the head of a statue found in its ruinsf 

 seem to belong to the same cla.-s. Vollmer gives a description of a 

 hieroglyphic painting, representing, in his opinion, the transmutation 

 of matter from its primitive state into man. 



But what is of even greater interest, vestiges of hieroglyphic in- 

 scriptions on portable material have been dbcovered. I will only 

 mention a lama skin, found near Lake Titicaca, and preserved in the 

 mvLseum of La Paz ; a piece of cloth, dug from an ancient Huaca, 

 near Ancon, by Dr. Plongeon ; several sacred vases, and a chuspa, 

 all covered with mystic figures. + 



That so far no specimens painted on paper have been found, seems 

 to verify Montesino's statement, that after the introduction of the 

 quip]x>s, all the manuscripts were destroyed. At all events, the relics 

 cited above, even without the pf^sitive testimony of Acosta, clearly 

 demonstrate that the children of Tavantinsuya, were familiar with 

 picture writing. There is equally sufficient proof, that this art was 

 practised by other nations of South America. Narcissas Gilbar, a 

 missionary amongst the Panos, on the banks of the Ucayale, found in 

 the Pampas of Sacramento, manuscripts with hieroglyphic characters, 



■' Bollaert, " Researches " page 217. 



t " L'Univers Pittoresque," Rjlivie, 1843. 



i Bollaert " Eesearches," p. 219. 



