ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 269 



feet and a half high supplies the place of a door into which the occu- 

 pants creep, and also serves for the exit of smoke. Cactus trunks are 

 used for beams and spars. Thongs of lama hide are used instead of nails. 

 Upon a small heap of earth in front of every house a cross composed of 

 two sticks is usually erected. Crosses are affixed in the interior also, the 

 Peruvians being now Roman Catholics. In very ancient times they were 

 addicted to the grossest idolatry. Some were cannibals ; they lived mostly 

 scattered upon the mountains and in forests, without agriculture, and the 

 strongest and most daring was unlimited sovereign. In the warmer dis- 

 tricts they knew nothing of dress ; in the cooler, they clothed themselves 

 usually in skins of animals. Idolatry was afterwards exchanged for a pure 

 worship of the sun, the nomadic mode of life for the agricultural, when, as 

 the tradition informs us, Manco Capac, and his consort Mama Oello, came 

 as children of the sun from some distant country to the shores of Lake 

 Titicaca, built the city of Cusco, and civilized the inhabitants. Other 

 traditions relate the matter differently; all agree, nevertheless, in this, that 

 the worship of the sun and civilization were brought into the country by 

 foreigners, and that the first among them was Manco Capac. The chief 

 inhabitants received the name and rank of Inca ; and marks of distinction 

 in clothing, and the decoration of the hair were allowed to them. Definite 

 dresses were also prescribed to the other nations that were afterwards 

 gained over to the worship of the sun, more by favors than by force. The 

 chief priest at Cusco was always a brother or uncle of the king, and the 

 other priests at that place were of the race of the Incas. Animals and 

 plants constituted the offerings. The clothing of these Indians now con- 

 sists of a tunic which falls half way down the leg, and breeches reaching to 

 the knee. Upon the head is worn a cap, and on the feet sandals or ojotas, 

 all of dark color, and a fabric of alpaca wool rather coarse in texture. 

 They wear the hair long, hanging down behind in braids. The female 

 dress consists of a woollen chemise, over it a tunic without sleeves, which 

 is not sewed together at top, but the two lappets are fastened by means 

 of two tupus or silver pins, and covered with a square piece of stuflf pinned 

 upon the bosom by another tupu. Their hair falls over the shoulders like- 

 wise, and their sole ornament consists of a necklace of precious stones. 

 The clothes of the Indian women of Quito are rather diflferent, as is shown 

 by the representation (pL SO, fig. 13), the figure exhibiting also the peculiar 

 manner in which children are carried. The Spanish women of Lima are 

 distinguished on account of a very close-fitting frock, a kind of mantilla, 

 and apron reaching to the knee {fig. 12). 



2. The Aimara nation, who, long before the erection of the empire of the 

 Incas, had their residence not far from the shores of Lake Titicaca. At 

 present they inhabit the entire plateau of the Andes, between latitudes 15° 

 and 20° south, from the provinces Tinta and Arequipa to the basin of 

 Paria and Oruro, between 69° and 75° of west longitude (from Paris), and 

 their language has been so well preserved, that it is in use as the language 

 of conversation, even in the cities, and by the descendants of the Spaniards, 

 while the Spanish is spoken only in communicating with foreigners. Exter- 



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