110 The Andes and the Amazon. 



guage of elegance and fashion three hundred years ago, 

 should be the universal tongue throughout the empire.* 

 Quichua is to-day spoken from the equator to 28° S. (ex- 

 cept by the Aymara people), or by nearly a million and a 

 half. We found it used, corrupted, however, by Spanish, 

 at the mouth of the Napo. There are S^xe dialects, of 

 which the purest is spoken in Cuzco, and the most impm-e 

 in Quito. The Indians of the northern valley are descend- 

 ants of the ancient Quitus, modified by Cara and Peruvian 

 blood. They have changed little since the invasion of Pi- 

 zarro. They remember their glory under the Incas, and 

 when they steal any thing fi'om a white man, they say they 

 are not guilty of theft, as they are only taking what origi- 

 nally belonged to them. Some see in their sacred care of 

 Incarial relics a lingering hope to regain their political 

 life. We noticed that the pure mountaineers, without a 

 trace of Spanish adulteration, wore a black poncho under- 

 neath, a^d we were informed by one well acquainted with 

 their customs that this was in mourning for the Inca. We 

 attended an Indian masquerade dance at Machachi, which 

 seemed to have an historical meaning. It was performed 

 in full view of that romantic mountain which bears the 

 name of the last captain of Atahuallpa. There is a tradi- 

 tion that after the death of his chief, Rmninagui burned 

 the capital, and, retiring with his followers to this Cordil- 

 lera, threw himself from the precipice. The masquerade 

 at Machachi was evidently intended to keep alive the mem- 



* "History (says Prescott) furnishes few examples of more absolute author- 

 ity than such a revolution in the language of an empire at the bidding of a 

 master." The pronunciation of Quichua requires a hai'sh, explosive utter- 

 ance. Gibbon says the sound of it to him resembled Welsh or Irish ; that 

 of Aymara, English. The letters b, d,f, g, and o are Avanting in the ancient 

 tongue of Quito ; p was afterward changed to b, t to d, v to/, c to g, and u to o ; 

 thus Chim-pu-razu is now Chimborazo. A few words bear a striking analogy 

 to corresponding Sanscrit words ; as Ynti, the Inca for sun, and Indra, the 

 Hindoo god of the heavens. 



