304 PLATEAU OP CAXAMARCA. 



longed to Chinchasuyu ; and in proportion as by their re- 

 ligious wars the Incas extended still more widely the preva- 

 lence of their faith, their language, and their absolute form 

 of government, these Suyus also acquired larger and un- 

 equally increased dimensions. Thus the names of provinces 

 came to be used to express the different quarters of the 

 heavens ; " Nombrar aquellos Partidos era lo mismo," says 

 Garcilaso, " que decir al Oriente, 6 al Poniente." The 

 Snow Chain of the Antis was thus looked upon as an East 

 chain. " La Provincia Anti da nombre a las Montafi as de los 

 Antis. Llamaron la parte a del Oriente Antisuyu, por la 

 qual tambien llaman Anti a toda aquella gran Cordillera de 

 Sierra Nevada que pasa al Oriente del Peru, por dar a en- 

 tender, que esta al Oriente." (Commentaries Reales, P. I. 

 p. 47 and 122.) Later writers have tried to deduce the 

 name of the Chain of the Andes from "anta," which 

 signifies " copper" in the Quichua language. This metal 

 was indeed of the greatest importance to a nation whose 

 tools and cutting instruments were made not of iron but of 

 copper mixed with tin ; but the name of the " Copper 

 Mountains" can hardly have been extended to so great a 

 chain; and besides, as Professor Buschmann very justly 

 remarks, the word anta retains its terminal a when making 

 part of a compound word : anta, cobre, y antamarca Pro- 

 vincia de Cobre. Moreover, the form and composition of 

 words in the ancient Peruvian language are so simple that 

 there can be no question of the-passage of an a into an i ; 

 and thus ".anta" (copper) and "Anti or Ante" (meaning as 

 dictionaries of the country explain " la tierra de los Andes, 



