igoo-i.] Sp/»>fi&H Documents Relative to the Canary Islands. 51 



distance from its shores star»d the ruins of Tihuanaco, consisting of a 

 large group of immense stones, each from six to seven yards high, 

 placed in Hnes at regular intervals. It has been fitly termed " a 

 Peruvian Stonehenge," and a tradition prevails concerning it identical 

 with that which ancient chroniclers preserve regarding the famous 

 English structure, namely, that it was erected in a single night by an 

 invisible hand. Another historical parallel, that no longer seems 

 strange, occurs in the Peruvian story of the war between the Inca 

 Yupanqui and his warlike subject Ollanta, in which the Inca's General 

 acted the part of Sextus Tarquinius in Livy's account of the taking of 

 Gabii, and that of Zopyrus in Herodotus' relation of the capture of 

 Babylon. As the original Ulam was the uncle of Dungi, who calls 

 himself Tarkhun-dara, or Tarquin the second, he may have been the 

 Ollanta of the legend. But there remain to this day a town and the 

 ruins of a strong fortress called OUanta-Tambo, the latter perched 

 high up in a narrow tract on the banks of the river Urubamba. At 

 any rate, in the word Ollanta survives the Olmec name. The final ta 

 of Ollanta is a dialectic variation, corresponding to that which changed 

 the Welsh balafen, butterfly, into the Aymara pilpinto. 



Having thus cleared the way for explanations, it is time to indicate 

 traces of the Olmecs in the vicinity of Mexico. Referring to the statue 

 of Chaac-Mol at Chichen-Itza in Yucatan, Professor Short says, in his 

 " North Americans of Antiquity " : " he is adorned with a head-dress, 

 with bracelets, garters of feathers, and sandals similar to those found 

 upon the mummies of the ancient Guanches of the Canary Islands." 

 And again : " Dr. Le Plongeon observed that the sandals upon the feet 

 of the statue of Chaac-Mol, discovered at Chichen-Itza, and of the 

 statue of a priestess found at the island of Mugeres, are exact repre- 

 sentations of those found on the feet of the Guanches, the early 

 inhabitants of the Canary Islands, whose mummies are occasionally 

 met with in the caves of Tenerife and the other isles of the group." 

 Now, the Mayas, Pokomams, and other Yucatecs, belong to a race 

 entirely distinct from both the Iberian and the Celt, being of Malay- 

 Polynesian origin. Brasseur de Bourbourg, quoting a Quiche document, 

 informs us that there was in the vicinity of Yucatan a little kingdom 

 of Peten, the name of which is neither Maya nor Quiche, but recalls 

 Bedan and Poton-chan. The chief of this principality was Canek, a 

 handsome and warlike young monarch, beloved by the daughter of a 

 king and the most beautiful woman of her time, but who, against her 

 will, had been betrothed to the king of Chichen. While the chief 

 nobles of the latter's court were bringing home the bride in joyous 



