192 



NATURE 



IJuly 5. 1877 



" The Yncas were also acquainted with the equinoxes, 

 and observed them with great solemnity. ... To ascer- 

 tain the time of the equinox they had a stone column, 

 very richly carved, erected in the open spaces in front of 

 the temples of the sun. When the priests thought that 

 the equinox was approaching, they carefully watched the 

 shadow thrown by the pillar every day. The pillar was 

 erected in the centre of a large circle, occupying the 



whole width of the courtyard. Across the circle a line 

 was drawn from east to west, and long experience had 

 shown them where the two points should be placed on the 

 circumference. They saw, by the shadow thrown by the 

 column in the direction of the line, that the time of the 

 equino.x was approaching ; and when the shadow was 

 exactly on the line from sunrise to sunset, and the light 

 of the sun bathed the whole circumference of the 



Fig. 4. — Ancient Vases and Modern Peruvian Heads. 



column at noon, without any shadow being thrown at 

 all, they knew that the equinox had arrived. Then they 

 adorned the pillar with all the flowers and sweet herbs 

 that could be gathered, and placed the chair of the sun 

 upon it, saying that on that day the sun with all its light 

 was seated upon the pillar" (Markham's translation, 

 published by the Hakluyt Society, vol. i. p. 179). 



It is true that a " stone column very richly carved " 



seems an inappropriate description of the plain truncated 

 conical gnomon shown in the drawing. It is, however, 

 as Mr. Squier says (p. 525), "sharply cut and perfectly 

 symmetrical.'' Can this be all that Garcilaso meant by 

 " columnas de piedra riquisimamente labradas " ? or were 

 others of these structures furnished with more ornament ? 

 Garcilaso also describes towers near Cuzco erected for 

 determining the solstices ; but Mr. Squier considers that 

 his account is confused, and that these 

 so-called towers were only Ynti-huatanas. 

 From this opinion Mr. Markham, writing 

 vn.\^^ Academy iox May ig, quite dissents, 

 and probably most readers who go through 

 the whole of Garcilaso's chapter will con- 

 sider that he had some idea of what he 

 was writing about, and will take it on his 

 (and other) evidence that the Peruvians 

 had, in fact, solstice-towers as well as 

 these equinox-cones. After all one must 

 admit, with Mr. Squier, that the Peruvians 

 had not advanced so far in astronomy 

 and computation of time as the Mexicans 

 and Central Americans. 



No traveller before Mr. Squier had 

 thoroughly explored the great lake of 

 Titicaca with its sacred island, celebrated 

 in tradition as the place whence Manco 

 Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo, 

 children of the Sun, and first of the Yncas, 

 came down to govern and civilise Peru. In 

 this cold desolate region, twelve to thirteen thousand feet 

 above the sea, ruins of palaces, convents, and the temples 

 of the Sun and Moon still remain to attest its sanctity 

 under the Ynca rule. Mr, Squier's estimate of the true 

 value to be placed on the traditions of the Yncas is 

 reasonable and moderate. To the warlike genius 

 which enabled them to subjugate the vast land, to 

 the political genius with which they organised the 

 system of communication and social control, 

 which is one of the most wonderful phenomena 

 in the history of nations, he does full justice 

 without countenancing the absurd idea that the 

 whole development of Peruvian culture is to be 

 attributed to this one conquering tribe. His re- 

 searches, indeed, bring out more clearly than ever 

 the distinctness of much of the native civilisation of 

 Peru from that of the Yncas, whose rule had not 

 been extended over the whole land till near the time 

 of the Spanish Conquest. 



The ruins of the temple of Pachacamac, and 

 elsewhere near Lima, show us a people similar 

 in origin and language to the Yncas, but who 

 had their nationality and culture before the con- 

 quering tribe came down upon their coast from 

 »- the high valleys of the Andes. The Chimus of the 



Truxillo district spoke a language still known in some 

 villages, and said to be quite distinct from the Ouichua 

 of the Yncas. Yet these people had attamed to 

 peculiar skill in metal-work and pottery. Indeed 

 from this district come the well-known Peruvian 

 vessels with double spouts or double bodies often 

 modelled in the form of an animal or a pair of 

 animals, and with a kind of whistle uttering the 

 creature's proper cry when the vessel is tilted so 

 that the water in it forces air in and out through 

 the hole. Not less curious are the well-modelled 

 head-vases, which (Fig. 4) give us the means of 

 comparing the features of the ancient and modern in- 

 habitants. With reference to this and other drawings 

 here reprinted from the hundreds contained in Mr. 

 Squier's volume, he may be congratulated on the 

 thoroughness with which he has enabled his readers to 

 understand the book which suggested his exploration— 

 Prescott's " History of Peru." 



Edw.^RD B. Tylor 



