INHABITANTS OF PERU. 303 



are frequently composed, and usually designated by tte name of yaravis. These 

 Bono-s, which are accompanied by the plaintive notes of the quena (flute), speak 

 more eloquently than all the historians of the horrors of the Conquest and the 

 sufferings of the oppressed natives. 



The Quichuas — Empire of the Incas. 



The Quichuas and the kindred Peruvian populations resemble the Aztecs and 

 other Mexicans of the plateaux in the massive build of their frames, the broad 

 chest, round and pyramidal form of the skull, a feature which was formerly 

 exaggerated by artificial deformation. A curious racial characteristic is the 

 presence in the cranium of an inter-parietal bone, the so-called os Incœ, which 

 occurs far more frequently amongst the Quichuas than amongst European races. 

 The complexion is generally olivaster, and the features are strongly marked, as is 

 usual amongst highlanders. 



They are a timid, peaceful people, in whom the family sentiment is highly 

 developed ; but the majority yield readily to the passion for strong drinks, passing 

 days together in a brutal delirium, accompanied by wild dancing and other orgies. 

 Like all descendants of conquered and enslaved peoples, they lack dignity, defend- 

 ing themselves with the weapons of flattery, cunning and falsehood, and even at 

 times displaying a cruel and ferocious spirit. 



The servile sentiment is deeply ingrained in the Qaichua, who obeys uncom- 

 plainingly, and if he ever rises against intolerable oppression, does so not in the 

 name of his outraged liberties, but through a sense of loyalty for his old Inca 

 masters. All the Indian revolts and wars of emancipation have been made with 

 a view to restoring the past. Raimondi relates the story of a native of the Rio de 

 Santa district, who, when driven to take vengeance on a parish priest, exchanged 

 his " Christian " clothes for the costume of an Inca, and then slew his enemy. 



The Quichuas and the other Indians of the Andean uplands had certainly 

 reached a highly developed state of culture several centuries before the arrival of the 

 Europeans. The most remarkable monuments on the coastlands are even attributed 

 to peoples who preceded the Quichuas in that region. In any case, they were by no 

 means the only nation that made progress in the arts, in which they were rivalled 

 and even distanced by others. Viewed through a long historic perspective, to us 

 they may seem to have always been what they showed themselves when the Inca 

 rule was suddenly overthrown by the Spanish Conquest. But there is reason to 

 believe that at that time they had already entered a period of complete decadence. 

 The genius previously displaj'ed by various inventions could scarcely have been 

 developed under a political system which crushed all personal enterprise. 



As skilful potters, the Quichuas made fictile vases of diverse form, representing 

 symbolic or grotesque figures of men and animals. They also knew how to utilise 

 the mineral ores, smelting gold, silver and copper, and even extracting quicksilver. 

 They could solder the metals and manufacture arms and other implements, but were 

 still at the copper age, having no knowledge of iron. Their cotton and woollen 



