Adolph Bandelier - The Ruins at Tiwanaku (1911) (Artículo)

218 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.
THE RUINS AT TIAHUANACO.

BY ADOLPH FEANCIS BANDELIER.
I cannot pretend to offer anything approximately

comparable to the learned and elaborate works published
on Tiahuanaco by Dr. Stuebel and Dr. Max Uhle^, or in
any way analogous to E. J. Squier's brilliant descriptions.*
Our stay at Tiahuanaco was limited to nineteen days, dur-
ing which time I found myself sorely tried by the effects
of altitude' and of the not over-salubrious climate.
The prohibition, by the Bolivian Government, to exca-
vate in or about the ruins, rendered all subsoil investi-
gation impossible and our limited collections were
obtained ahnost by way of contraband; through pur-
chase from Indians, who mostly came at night to avoid
the vigilance of the authorities. Hehce surveying of
the ruins, observations on the nature of the country and
on Indian customs, fragments of folk-tales, and some
data from ancient church-books, constituted the fruits
of our activity there. A provisional Museum, destined
to preserve the antiquities of Tiahuanaco, had been
recently opened at that village, and we saw in the rudi-
mentary collection a number of specimens illustrating
the type of artefacts. The larger carved blocks which
this little Museima contained, displayed the uncouth and
angular style of sculpture peculiar to the well-known
monoliths. The pottery found at Tiahuanaco shows
three distinct types. One seems to be peculiar to the
site, as nowhere else, as far as known, is it met with,
except as intrusive specimens. It is supposed to be the
work of the unknown people who built the edifices now
in a condition of lamentable ruin, and who carved the
1911.] The Ruins at Tiahuanaco. ' 219
famous monoliths. The style of ornamentation, as can
readily be seen, is original and while there may be, as
Dr. Uhle stated to the writer, a trace of Tiahuanaco in-
fiuence in ceramics of other points in Peru and Bolivia,
it is so distinct and characteristic, that we may admit it as
due to the inhabitants from a time of which only the
dimmest traces of recollections have survived.
The characteristic Inca or Cuzco pottery comes next.
Inca visits to Tiahuanaco took place probably in the fif-
teenth century and the specimens found are, in all likeli-
hood, imported, and were not manufactured on the spot.
Finally there is a third class, which may be called
Aymará, since it is identical with the vessels found
everywhere in Aymará ruins, so-called "ChuUpas,"
over the Puna, and was continued with modifications
during historic times. That pottery may have been
partly coeval with the oldest forms. We do not know
if the Aymará then occupied the country or not. But
it is certainly, in part, contemporaneous with the appear-
ance of the Incas, and with the earlier times of Spanish
domination. All these types are represented (or were
in 1894), at the rudimentary Museum of which I speak.
Of metallic objects, especially in copper and bronze,
there were at the Museum quite a number, and among
these, T-shaped clamps. Textures and wooden cups
presented httle that was of special note, although we
saw two Keros or sacrificial cups well painted and deco-
rated with carvings in relief.^ In short, the Museum
was a fair beginning, if one takes into consideration
the character of the people and the difficulties in the
way of gathering and preserving relics of the past.
The situation of Tiahuanaco is peculiar. A long and
not very wide valley descends towards the shores of
Lake Titicaca. On the east, this valley is bordered
by a crest dividing it from the plateau Puna. On the
west runs a similar ridge culminating in a peak called
Quimsa-Chata.^ Hence Tiahuanaco lies in a trough
that slopes very gently to the lake. The width of that
trough varies, nowhere exceeding three miles. At the
220 American Antiquarian Sodety. [Oct.,
village itseK the trough comes to a sudden break or step.
The stretch separating Tiahuanaco from the shores
of thé lake at Huaqui,^ is wider than the valley higher
up, and the sudden break at the pueblo has created the
behef that the lake formerly extended as far. Hence
one of the interpretations of the word "Tiahuanaco"
rests on the assumption that it meant originally "dry
shore," in Aymará. Monohths, similar to those at
Tiahuanaco, have been found by Dr. Max Uhle on or
near the lake-shore at UakuUani; there exist some at
Pilapi, four leagues from the ruins, and other partly
sculptured stones are said to he on the fianks of Quimsa-
Chata.
This bears on the question of the origin of the rock out
of which the monohths are carved. The point has
always been raised, how such enormous blocks could
have been placed there. It was suggested that, many
of them being andésite, the nearest point whence they
could have been obtained was the peninsula of Copa-
cavana. It has been overlooked, that a number of the
carved blocks are of the permian sandstone cropping
out at Tiahuanaco. This is not the case with the
material of the great doorway and other large and small
pieces, but the tallest coluron and many other sculptured
pieces are of the reddish sandstone underlying the soil.
Mr. Sundt, who is quite an authority on Bolivian geology
and lithology, has suggested that the andésite blocks of
Tiahuanaco are erratic' This does away with part of
the mystery. The existence of similar sculptures in
other regions contiguous to the lake (as at Kalaki on
the peninsula of Huata) and elsewhere on that same pen-
insula, was ignored or overlooked.
The general plan made by me of the svtrface ruins
cannot be reproduced here. Excavations being pro-
hibited, I could not penetrate the soil and secure more
data on the original extent of architectural vestiges.
The main question is, where were the abodes of the
people that raised the monuments. Not a single con-
struction has been found, indicating a house. Since
1911.] The Ruins at Tiahuanaco. 221
Tiahuanaco was first seen by the Spaniards no mention
has been made of dwellings. And yet the church of
Tiahuanaco, and many of the actual houses, are built
of stones from the ruins, and when one asks ior the
place whence these blocks were taken, the usual reply
is that they came from the surroundings of the main
mounds. Trenches and grooves have been shown to
us with the remark, that they had contained the foun-
dations of smaller buildings that seemed to have been
houses. The size and outline of these dugouts would
indicate that the dwellings of the ancient people of
Tiahuanaco were about of the dimensions and form of
actual Indian houses on the Puna. The fact of the
matter is, that attention has only been paid to the strik-
ing remains of Tiahuanaco, and the more modest features
neglected, although the most important, because illus-
trative of the mode of living of the people. But since
it has been so, it is well to cast a glance at the striking
features and what they indicate.
Two eminences, certainly natural, attract attention
at once. One is a inound, and by no means the only one
in the vicinity; the narrow vale is dotted with such
accumulations of reddish earth. The other is a gradual
rise, with red permian rocks cropping out in a few places.
The former is called Akka-pana, the latter, Puma-
puncu. I do not venture to etymologize the name of
the former, for if there has been a place in creation where
etymologizing has run riot, it is Tiahuanaco, and I leave
it to learned men to discuss words. Puma-Puncu has
never had its meaning disputed, hence I simply adopt
what everybody else says that is: that it means in
Aymara the door or gate of the Puma, or cougar, or Amer-
ican panther.^ It is impossible to surmise why it bears
that name, for nothing in the aspect of the vestiges bears
any relation to that animal. Nor does it seem certain
that either of these names is original; they may have
arisen during the early period of Spanish colonization.
In parenthesis I would observe, that the Jesuit Father
Bernabé Cobo, in his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, from
222 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,
the early part of the seventeenth century, states that
the proper name for Tiahuanaco is Taypi-kala, or stone
in the middle or center. ^ This designation is legitimate-
ly Indian, since it agrees with the Indian's habit of
considering his pueblo as the middle of his known world.
The Mound of Akka-pana seems to have been, not
merely surrounded, but even to a certain extent plated,
with a wall of well dressed stones, paralleloppipeds of
andésite, fitted without binding-material. In the center
of the mound is a depression similar to a deep excavation
to the level of the surrounding plain. On its upper
rim lie scattered blocks, carved and polished, that may
have belonged to some courtyard or enclosure. Rows
of similar blocks, of smaller size, stand to one side on
the summit. But there is so httle left, and what re-
mains is so disconnected, that no conclusions are possible.
Foundations of edifices are not visible. In a rent,
descending towards the north, are what may be the
two sides of a narrow channel encased by polished stones.
A few large blocks, fairly cut and rubbed, lie scattered
on the slopes.^"
Along the northern base of Akka-pana are the great
courtyards formed by huge prismatic stone pillars. In
the outer of these courts stands the sculptured gateway.
It was, time ago, rent by a thunderbolt. The tall
statue which stands in the same courtyard and south
of the gateway was placed upright in modern times.
It was lying on the ground nearby. Afterwards, un-
fortunately, this monolith was used as a target by in-
fantry soldiers, so that the face is considerably damaged.
Rows of erect stones, some rude, others cut in the
form of prisms, seem to indicate the former existence
of other enclosures more or less connected with the
motmd. Between Akka-pana and the village of Tiahu-
anaco are similar remains. Some of the blocks are very
large. Southwest of Akka-pana, between it and the
site called Puma-puncu, stands a rectangular gateway,
apparently isolated. Not far from it lies prostrate,a
group of curious monoliths representing uncouth human
figures, one of which measures not less than eighteen
feet in length. One of its ends shows that it formerly
stood upright. It is impossible to determine if this gate-
way and the monoliths occupy their original position.'^
East, or rather east-north-east, from Akka-pana, is
a group of huge slabs to which the Indians of Tiahuanaco
give the name of Kalisasaya. The principal of these
is approximately quadrangular with an artificial rec-
tangular depression, into which lead diminutive steps.
I refrain from giving a detailed description since this
stone has been photographed frequently and since the
late E. G. Squier has devoted some speculation as to its
possible object. More elaborate yet are the very careful
observations of Messrs. Stuebel and Uhle.^^ Rows of
erect stones seem to be connected with this mysterious
slab. It lies in a hollow and may still be in its original
position.
The site called Puma-puncu is located south of the
village and southwest of Akka-pana. Apparently, there
is no connection between the two places, still we have
traced vestiges of enclosures on the level between them.
Both were evidently parts of one complex. Puma-
puncu is a natural eminence, a gently sloping ridge.
On its northern side lie several carved blocks of consider-
able thickness. But the main feature of Puma-puncu
is the platform of stone ruthlessly shattered for the
purpose of treasure-seeking. Its chief feature are the
seats of stone cut in its surface and which have led to
the popular belief that it was a place of justice. It
seems that it was carved out of the rock in situ. Smaller
carved prisms, but of andésite, in rows, are seen near
and around it as well as on the hill itself. There is
nothing about this monument or its surroundings, that
gives a clue to its original piu-pose.^'
Taking into account the area covered by all the vesti-
ges about Tiahuanaco, to the furthest corner, stone or
isolated pillar; supposing besides, that this whole area
was covered with dwellings, and allowing for each in-
habitant the smallest possible space, we could not assign
to the original population a greater number than six
thousand souls. But this rough guess has no value
since we have no knowledge of the character of the
buildings. That Tiahuanaco once was a settlement
admits of no doubt. The mere fact that the oldest
traditions mention a people who lived there and the
manner in which that people became extinct, proves it.
That the inhabitants disappeared previous to the fif-
teenth century seems equally certain. At least, if
those who were found on the spot by the Inca tribe of
Cuzco were their descendants, they no longer dwell in
the ancient edifices, having modified their manner of
living. Such changes were not unusual among seden-
tary Indians. I recall the Pimas of southern Arizona,
who claim to have built and occupied the great edifices
of Casa grande. Casa blanca and others along the lower
Gila river, whereas their descendants, when first met
with by whites, dwelt, in circular huts like those inhabited
by them to-day. At the time when the northern Pimas
had relapsed into a more primitive style of living, their
southern relatives, the Pimas of central Sonora, still
preserved the solid architecture of large adobe buildings,
and it is to the early reports on this southern branch and
their abodes that we owe our knowledge of the purpose
of the ancient buildings in Arizona.^* Hence the fact
that Tiahuanaco was in ruins when the Incas first
visited it does not necessarily militate against a possi-
bility of its builders having been ancestors of the Aymará
Indians.
That there existed dwellings in former times is beyond
doubt. That they are not mentioned by earher visitors,,
from the sixteenth century for instance, is pardonable.
The statues, huge slabs and portals monopolized their
attention just as, even now, they absorb the attention
of visitors. Nobody has inquired into the origin of the
thousands of small prismatic blocks of andésite, quad-
rangular as well as polygonal, of which the walls of the
church at Tiahuanaco are buUt and with which some of
the narrow streets of that village are partly paved.
Much of this material has, also, entered into the'con-
struction of the actual dwellings. And these blocks were
not cut lately, they were found in their present shape."
I was shown depressions rivalling, in size and contour,
what would be the result, if ruins in the Cordillera were
removed and only the foundations left. I was assured
, that from these depressions, which are at best two feet
in depth, fioors or pavements of small cut blocks like
those mentioned were taken out. Hence I do not
regard it as impossible that the plan and size of dwellings
of the builders of Tiahuanaco might have been similar
to that of ancient houses in the Bolivian Cordillera or
on the peninsula of Huata.
Residents of places where ruins exist are always
liberal in offering explanations. Every one nearly has
some suggestion to make, and, in the course of time,
what originally is a surmise assumes the shape of a
fact. It is therefore with reluctance, to say the least,
that I repeat explanations given us about "dwellings"
of the builders of ancient Tiahuanaco. I was assured,
for instance, that, while the fioors of the houses were of
cut stone, the buildings themselves were of adobe.
The red soil of the valley makes a very tough adobe.
That soil is fertile, but permeated with water. Aside
from several springs, some of which show vestiges of
having been enclosed and provided with conduits of
cut stone in ancient times, the surface of the ruins is
dotted with pools that do not even disappear in the driest
season. When it rains, many fields become swamps.
The stream proper is not deep, and partakes of the
nature of a mountain torrent. Channels of stone have
been dug up in the fields around the main ruins and
inside of ancient enclosures. There exists at La Paz
a grooved slab, the groove forming an elbow. Such
channels were not, at Tiahuanaco, needed for irrigation.
They may have been intended for drainage.'^ I refer
to what I have written, eleven years ago, on the so-called
Baths of the Inca on the Island of Titicaca, where the
drainage of the hills was collected in long troughs
behind the walls of Andenes, emptying into open con-
duits down the slope to the lake. At Tiahuanaco
wherever the soil is dug to a comparatively small depth,
water rises to the surface. The site of the present
village lies higher than the ruins, hence is drier. But
if it should be true, as nearly everybody asserts, that
in former times the lake bathed the foot of the eminence
on which the present village stands, it is possible that
the people of old did not occupy that eminence, but
used it as a natural rampart against possible encroach-
ments of the lake.'' It may be, therefore, that the
stone fioors had the object of securing drjTiess to ancient
houses.
Why the old inhabitants 0/ Tiahuanaco should have
selected a site for residence that had the great disad-
vantage of being moist may be explained through the
fact that, by settling on a higher level, agricultural
possibilities would have been minimized. The valley
narrows, and the climate becomes colder. The hacien-
das are not farms, but what might be termed "cattle
ranches." Hence the original builders of Tiahuanaco
descended as far as possible, down to the original limits
of the lake.
There they struck a building material unique in its
way. It is stated that on the height of Quimsa-chata,
some ten or twelve miles to the southeast of Tiahuanaco,
is found the andésite which composes a large proportion
of the material used in the monuments of Tiahuanaco."
But there are, at the ruins, a number of blocks of por-
tentous size, that are untouched; there are also a certain
number touched by cutting. Either there has been a
systematic importation of stone, on a scale equalling
transportation of building material in modern times,
and with means unknown, or- else the material existed
there already. The latter is the opinion of two persons,
one of whom I have the honor of knowing intimately,
whereas the other I merely know through his works.
The former is my friend, Mr. Alexander L. Dun, and the
latter, Mr. • Sundt, a lithologist of distinction. The
1911-] The Ruins at Tiahuanaco. 227
sedentary American aborigine needs, for existence,
coniparatively little. He requires land' of sufiäcient
fertility to yield modest crops. He requires water,
building material, and security from enemies. The
chase and fishing need not be mentioned, for, with
the lake nearby and the supply of meat afforded by
the vicuña, and the llama as a domestic animal, these
conditions were readily filled. At Tiahuanaco, the soil
is fertile enough and the climate not too cold for raising
indigenous staples: potatoes, quina, and oca. Maize
cannot grow there, and flourishes at only a few places
on the puna. But with the vegetables enumerated
and with whatever meat indigenous animals gave, the
Indian lived, even exceptionally well. Water there is
in abundance and the lake afforded fishing. The build-
ing material could, of course, not be wood. But the
erratic blocks spread over the locahty and the slopes
encasing the valley, induced the Indian to use them for
erecting permanent shelters. " In those altitudes, the
first requisite was that man should be protected from
cold. The tribe that settled at Tiahuanaco (for causes
unknown) had only two materials at their disposal: adobe
and stone. Of their use of adobe we have no evidence.
Since stone was used by preference at Tiahuanaco
it must have been comparatively abundant. The
supposition that it was shipped to the place from points
on the lake, by a people who have not left any trace at
those points, is very ingenious.- But we have, nearer
at hand, the fact that an abundance of erratic blocks
are scattered over the site of the ruins and over the slopes
encasing the valley, and that, furthermore, many of
the blocks are carved out of the rock in situ. Hence
the material was on the spot. To cut it and carve it
was the only question.
Copper tools occur in relative abundance and to a
lesser degree, implements of the accidental bronze found
promiscuously through South American ruins. Either
of these materials is hard enough to cut the stone used at
Tiahuanaco. The smelting of copper was, as our finds
in other parts of the country prove, known among the
Quichuas. There is one peculiarity in the Tiahuanaco
ruins. The huge stones have, in many instances, been
fastened together by copper clamps, T, or rather I
shaped, and these clamps are cast! This shows not
merely that the art of casting in rude moulds was known
to the people, but it also denotes considerable ingenuity
in architectural contrivances. To use metallic fasten-
ings in stone work is rather exceptional among primitive
people. Still, if the workmanship on the carved blocks
is carefully examined it will be seen that the adjustment
was approxhnate. In order to fasten together hori-
zontal slabs, contact was not sufficient. The wall
on the outside of Akkapana needed no clamps; mere
superposition held it, but the horizontal fragments of
enormous size at Puma-puncu had to be tied by some-
thing more ductile than stone, and less bulky. Hence
copper (or bronze) were resorted to.^» There are also
holes drilled to a certain depth into many blocks; Mr.
Squier has suggested that they were made to insert
bars of copper desthied to hold together vertical pieces.
No such bars have been found as yet.^"
In regard to the implements with which the erratic
blocks as well as the rock in situ at Tiahuanaco were
cut and carved, the finds of artefacts only reveal the
existence of copper and bronze tools. We saw no stone
hammers, but, as no excavations were permitted, we
are not prepared to formulate any opinion. There
must have been tools for breaking as well as for cutting,
and it is more likely that the former were of stone than
of the few sites, in Bolivia, where obsidian flakes and
chips occur, but whatever artefacts we gathered or saw
of that mineral were only arrowheads or occasional awls.
Nothing larger came to our notice. The implements
used for the elaborate sculptures and for cutting faces
and angles of building stones, may therefore not have
been of obsidian. That for the transport of large blocks,
wooden rollers and levers were used, is presumable.
We saw just as large blocks as any of those at Tiahuanaco,
scattered over the valley at the foot of the hill of Sillus-
tani near Puna. These blocks, it was clearly seen, had
been moved by means of ropes and levers. Whether
the people of Tiahuanaco used ropes is not known, but
we found and sent to the museum, from other parts of
Bolivia, specimens of quite thick, though much decayed,
roping.
I am informed by Mr. Alexander L. Dun that at a
place called Huan-kollu, not far from Tiahuanaco, huge
blocks of andésite are foimd and that there are traces
of these blocks having been transported down hill by
means of levers of -wood.^^
The occurrence of artefacts of obsidian is not limited
to Tiahuanaco. A zone of obsidian finds extends from
there as far north as the village of Pucarani, some, eight
leagues from La Paz and about four leagues from the
port of Chililaya. The ancient name. of the height
overlooking that village was, according to Calancha,
Quesca-Marca, signifying in Aymará: "village or place
of fiint, " and thus called from the abundance of fiint
and obsidian fragments (including arrow heads) found
there. Dr. Uhle collected quite a large number of
arrow-heads on that site. In the first days of 1897 we
went to the Hacienda of Santa Ana, distant four leagues
from Pucarani, where the original settlement and strong-
hold of Pucarani probably stood.^'^ It was our purpose
to investigate that site first, then proceed to Pucarani
and afterwards, following the traces of obsidian, reach
Tiahuanaco, in order to find out where obsidian exists
in situ. The Indians drove us away. All we noticed
was that the slopes of the two heights overlooking the
Hacienda, while abundantly covered with broken re-
mains of stone implements, showed no trace of obsidian.
Hence it would seem that the site of, or some site near,
Pucarani is the northern terminus of the obsidian
region., 'At Tiahuanaco proper we found no signs
of natural occurrence of either obsidian or flint.
The^ Indians of the region called Pacajes (now a
Province of the Department of La Paz) where Tiahuan-
aco is located, were probably the only ones in central and
northern Bolivia who used the bow and the fiint (or
obsidian) tipped arrow.''^ It is perhaps a question
whether the occurrence of the material naturally led to
the manufacture of the implements and their use, or
whether the art of chipping was imported. Strange it
appears that neither arrow-shafts nor bows have been
found as yet. The tall reed (totora) growing in Lake
Titicaca, may have furnished the material for shafts
and hght spears, also for throwing-sticks. None of
the latter have, to my knowledge, ever been found, which
is not conclusive proof that they did not exist. The
nearest timber on the east can be reached, from Puca-
rani, in about two days, by steady walking. ^^Whether
the builders of Tiahuanaco themselves chipped arrow-
heads is uncertain, as these artefacts have almost
invariably been picked up on the. surface.
Fhnt implements are abundantly found on the north-
ern coast of Chile.^^ We sent, from the vicinity of Arica,
quite a number of fiint-arrowheads and some fiint-knives,
dug up with well preserved skeletons. Cieza has pre-
served a tradition, according to which a tribe or band
of Chilean Indians, in times of remotest antiquity,
crossed the passes of the coast-range to the shores of
Lake Titicaca.^«
Carved monoliths exist elsewhere in the vicinity of
the lake. They are not the heirloom of a particular
tribe or people, but the natural outcome of a certain
degree of culture, brought in contact with the proper
material. '
The monoliths at Kalaki and other points on the pen-
insula of Huata are very nearly as tall as those of Tia-
huanaco. Their style is ruder, but not so angular.
Those of Chavin de Huantar in central eastern Peru
resemble, through their ornamentation, the Tiahuanaco
art more closely; they seem like an intermediate between
it and the sculptures of Copan and Palenque.^^ This
is said with the very positive reserve that I do not
intimate any relationship between peoples so very
remote from each other as the inhabitants of Chiapas
and Honduras, Peru and Bolivia.
Of the interpretations of the carvings of Tiahuanaco,
especially of those on the great doorway, I only wish to
say that since we know nothing of their makers, I hold
it absolutely idle to speculate on supposed symbols.
We have no means of surmising even, whether those
sculptures were intended to be symbolical. They may
be reproductions of living beings, conventionalized, or
imperfect. At the Museum of La Paz (one of the most
interesting and attractive collections, although a heter-
ogeneous agglomeration) there are a few specimens of
stone-sculptiires of animals purporting to have come
from Tiahuanaco and which are not absolutely without
resemblance to nature. Ancient Tiahuanaco pottery
has heads of condors and of pumas or tigers vigorously
executed and supposed to have been made by the people
who carved the monoliths, but positive evidence we
have not.=«
Leaning against the outer walls of the church of
Tiahuanaco, are two large statues, representing each,
a sitting or squatting human form. They are so dis-
figured that it is impossible to appreciate their original
degree of perfection. It is my impression that they
are simply representations of people in their ancient
costume. That costume, as well as the garments on
the tall monolith at the foot of Akka-pana, appears like
that described as worn by the Aymarás at the time of
the conquest.^*
One of the chief wonders of Tiahuanaco has always
been the cutting and joining of the stone-work. But
no attention has been paid to its imperfections. The
edges and planes, the angles and faces, do not bear the
test of the level and of the square. It is rule of thumb,
patiently carried out, Indian fashion, and regardless of
time. We have tested many specimens and found
nowhere the perfection so loudly praised.^" In that
respect, the ruins of Tiahuanaco recall to a certain ex-
tent the ruins of Mitla, with their tall, round pillars, their
232 Am&rican Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,
enormous lintels, and the walls plated with carefully
rubbed flags neatly joined by superposition, but devoid
of symmetry. The stone work of Tiahuanaco is by no
means superior to that of Sillustani and Cuzco.
The nomenclature applied to the diffèrent parts of
the ruins is absolutely valueless. Names like: "the
fortress," "court or seat of Justice," "temple," etc.,
etc., have no meaning unless supported by original tradi-
tion. With Tiahuanaco we lack completely that support.
The rows of stones, the great pillars, indicate enclosures,
inferior in size to the enormous ones on the Peruvian
coast. We miss, at Tiahuanaco, the rudiments of every
reasonable basis even for conjecture. Tradition, as
far as known, gives no clue to the piu-pose of edifices,
the sad wreck of which we contemplate. That this
wreck dates chiefly from times anterior to the Spanish
conquest is a well-known fact.^^
The traditions concerning these ruins only tends to
indicate that they may be quite ancient for that part
of South America. They are chiefly connected with
myths of the creation of the human race, and in their
present form include Christian, hence intrusive, elements..
^^These tales, it may be, gave rise to the name "taypi-
kala" (stone of the middle or center) which was known
in the seventeenth century as the Aymará name for
the place. Tiahuanaco is a riddle which we must not
despair of solving, but which at present defies the
ingenuity of speculation.
We tried very hard to secure some ancient folklore
from the Tiahuanaco*Indians, but with very little result.
Our ignorance of the Aymará language may be one of
the reasons for that failure, but we know that many
who are conversant with that idiom failed also. We
secured some talk from an old man, but he was most
unreliable. He told us that the large stones out of
which the monoliths are made were originally lying on
the slopes north of Tiahuanaco, and that the "Gentiles"
kicked them down into the valley, without the aid of
mechanical appliances. Once at the bottom, the "Gen-
tiles" lifted them up by mere bodily strength, bruising

their hands and bodies so that the blood used to stream
down. These "Gentiles" were, according to him, pre-
cursors of the people who lived in the "ChuUpas" or
ruins scattered so profusely over the puna. The age
when the "Gentiles" flourished was the age of God-
Father and the "Gentiles" were destroyed by a flood,
which destruction our informant called "Juicio-uma"
or judgment of water or by water. Thereupon came
the second age, that of the Chullpas: these people, when
th,e sun appeared for the first time, stood on their heads,
and for that reason their houses fell in and crushed them,
and this is why the bodies in the "Chullpas" are all
in a squatting posture. Informant also said that
at the time of the "Gentiles" there was but one "Inca,"
but that when the Chullpas lived, there were a great
number. The present age will end with the judgment
of fire "Juicio-nina" and then will come the age of the
Holy Ghost about which nothing is known. The Chris-
tian element in these stories is manifest. But the state-
ment that the "Gentiles" and the "Chullpas" (who
are the ancient Aymarás) were not contemporaneous,
(if authentic) would indicate that the ancient people
of Tiahuanaco were anterior to the "Chullpas" or that
at least they were of a different stock. Some fragments
of traditions which we secured from settlers do not even
deserve to be mentioned.
I must yet mention a feature which we noticed at the
village. We obtained several skulls. Some among
them show the artificial deformity peculiar to older
Aymará crania, namely: flattening of the forehead.
This custom, limited to males, was in general use at the
time of the conquest and it required severe edicts from
the Viceroys, especially from Don Francisco de Toledo
in the years between 1570 and 1575, to abolish it.''
Hence artificial flattening was practiced by the Indians
of Bolivia until the close of the sixteenth century, if
not later. Now the village of Tiahuanaco rests, as we
have seen ourselves, on a thin layer of ashes, human and
animal bones; also skulls! This layer is at a depth of
from two to three feet beneath the surface, its thickness
varying from a few inches to a foot and more, and the
crania are deposited in it promiscuously. We could
not hear of any artefacts having been met with, but
this is no proof of their non-existence. Whether the
skulls found in that layer are of the oldest inhabitants
or .not we could not determine.
The present Indians of Tiahuanaco and those whom
the Spaniards found on the site are and were Aymarás.
They spoke, and speak, what Bertonio has called the
Pacajes dialect.'^ Some contend that it is the purest
Aymará, but it might be very difficult to prove it, since
we do not know where the original center of that stock
must be looked for. In personal appearance they differ
not from the Indians of the Puna, and their dress is the
same. The men are usually of strong build, rather
good sized, the women less prepossessing. In mode of
living and degree of uncleanliness they are like the others,
they are as unfriendly towards the whites, as hostile
to progress as any others of the stock. Their respect
for relics of the past is slight, but whenever a foreigner
attempts to touch these, they oppose it while still eager
to sell what they can gather of antiquities themselves,
and not at all backwards in defacing or even destroying
monuments. The same old man who told us the would-
be folktales related, is engaged since many years in
manufacturing troughs, mortars, and other articles
out of the carved blocks strewn over the ruins. Many
a sculptured stone has been cut up by him and the frag-
ments turned into articles of husbandry, and none of
the Indians take umbrage at it.'^ The Aymará harbor
a superstition that the bones of the dead may penetrate
their bodies whenever disturbed, and thus produce dis-
eases and even death. But withal they do not hesitate
to trample on these bones or to kick about and crush
the skulls.
It was at Tiahuanaco that we obtained our first
insight into the social organization and some of the
superstitions of the Aymarás. What follows, applies
exclusively to that place and its surroundings.
I knew, a long time ago, that the Indians of BoUvia
and Peru were divided into gentes or clans the name for
which was "Ayllu," a word in use in the Aymará lan-
guage as well as in the Quichua.'* Originally, descent
was in the female line." When we inquired for the Ayl-
lus of Tiahuanaco, the reply came that there were only
two, Arasaya and Masaya. These two groups are geo-
graphically divided at the village. Masaya occupies
the buildings south, Arasaya those north, of the central
square, the dividing line going, ideally, through the
center of the "Plaza" from east to west. This geo-
graphical division is (at Tiahuanaco) even indicated
at chtu-ch. We saw, when at mass, the principals of
the two clusters, each with his staff of office, enter in
procession: Masaya walking on the right or south,
Arasaya on the left or north, and take their places in
the same order on each side of the altar. After the
ceremony they jointly escorted the priest to his home.
But we were told also, that there were other Ayllus
(and as many as ten) within the parish. This caused
me to inquire for the church-books. The priest of
Tiahuanaco, Reverend Father José Maria Escobari
(now deceased) most kindly placed them at my disposal
and I soon found out, what I already had suspected,
that the two main clusters just named were not kins or
clans, but groups of such, perhaps phratries. This is
a very ancient arrangement and existed, among other
places, at aboriginal Cuzco, where the river divided
the inhabitants into two clusters, Hurin-suyu and
Hanan-suyu, whereas there is every probability that the
tribe was composed of at least thirteen clans, or Ayllus,
locahzed; a certain number of them belonging, through
their location, to one and the remainder to the other
principal subdivision.
Although there are fragments of church-registers as
far back as 1674, the contents of the books become of
value only in 1694. Under date of January eighth of
that year, I found the entry: that the natives whose
marriages (it was a marriage register) are consigned in
the book, "will be found placed in their two groups
(parcialidades) Hananzaia and Hurinzaia, "^^ hence the
present division is an ancient one under a change of name.
This is further proven by the appearance, in the same
book, of Masaya and Arasaya, in 1710, in place of the
former terms.^^ Furthermore, in the list of the Ayllus
of Tiahuanaco, which I extracted from 1694 to 1728,
after which year the clan is no longer mentioned, there
is one Ayllu expressly assigned to Arazaia and three
to Masaya. The total number of Ayllus mentioned
as having belonged to Tiahuanaco is, up to 1728,'"'
thirteen. Among these, several bear the names of well-
known localities in BoUvia.
It results from this book, that intermarriage in the
clan or Ayllu was already customary about two centuries
after the conquest, that exogamous marriage was also
frequent, and that marriages between members of
distant villages took place. Not only that, but parties
of distinct linguistical stocks intermarried also. Thus
we find Quichuas wedded to Aymarás, Aymarás to
Uros. Not less than forty-seven different villages, at
least fifteen of which are Peruvian, are represented by
parties who contracted matrimony at Tiahuanaco, either
with members of some clan of that village or of another
. one.
The names of the clans are found repeated in different
villages. The kin called Inca appears at Copacavana,
at La Paz (Bolivia) at Juli, Caquiauiri and Azángaro,
in Peru, CoUana, simultaneously at La Paz in BoUvia,
at Pucará and Puno, even at Paucar-coUa, in Peru.
The clans were then already scattering, as with Spanish
rule there was greater liberty and security for the
Indian to move hither and thither. In connection with
this belongs a statement made to us at Tiahuanaco
that, while the members of an Ayllu do not longer reside
together, they still claim aflBliation and, when travelling,
they try as much as possible to quarter themselves
with members of their own clan. .We subsequently

observed this custom elsewhere in Bolivia.
The registers of baptisms were not obtainable. What
we could ascertain in regard to the government of the
clans is meagre and was not always corroborated at
other places. I give here what relates strictly to Tiahu-
anaco. Each Allyu is autonomous. It elects annually
its officers. We were assured, as on the Island of Titi-
caca, that the Alcalde was the chief officer and the
Ilacata only second in rank. This seems to be the
reverse in other sections. The Alcalde was described
to us as an executive functionary, as the executor of
justice and leader in case of warfare. The .Ilacata, on
the other hand, was mentioned as an administrative
officer only. What the relations between the two
clusters of Masaya and Arasaya and the Ayllus were,
we could not find out at Tiahuanaco, as they were con-
stantly confounded in the statements of our informants.
We never succeeded in having the latter discriminate
between the two kinds of groups, only it seemed to
us that the former played a directive part in every-
thing relating to church matters and, also, to public
dances.
We witnessed the great dance on the feast of Septem-
ber 13th and 14th to which Mr. Squier has given a name
of his own." We saw then, for the first time, the head-
dresses of ostrich-feathers (Suri) worn by the group of
dancers called Sicuri,^^ we saw again the tiger-skins,
called Kena-Kena or Kenacho^^ and other costxmaes,
partly aucient and partly modem, of the signification
of which we could not obtain any explanation. But
we saw that, while these groups were represented on
both sides of the square, north and south, there still
was a division carefully kept up, Masaya remainmg
on the south, and Arasaya on the north, neither side
trespassing on the others grounds. This seemed to
indicate that, while the dancing clusters are indiscrim-
inately composed of members of all the clans more or
less, they observed a division into two main groups.
The dance was like all those we have seen since, namely,
a disorderly crowd of more or less drunken people, the
music consisted of panflutes of various sizes (frequently
mentioned by older authors) of the well-known flat
drums and of fifes, and while the dancers and many of
the public sang in Aymará, the din was so fearful as
to make it impossible to gather either sense or signifi-
cation. Neither could we secure any information from
outsiders. It was all one drunken orgie that lasted
day and night for about flve times twenty-four hours.
On the fourth day the whole crowd resorted to the top
of Akkapana, where they played after the fashion of
children, buying fruit of each other, building toy-houses,
and, above all, drinking hard. On the fifth day the
Indians began to disperse and go back to their homes,
but the village authorities kept up the noise by dancing
in the plaza like Indians. The uproar created by such
an Indian festival is such that nothing can be gathered
concerning the signification of the performance; drunk-
enness is so general that hardly a sensible reply may be
elicited on any topic. The curate retired to the inner-
most apartment of his dwelling in order to escape the
ovations of his parish-children. He declared himself
utterly disgusted at such indigenous performances, but
powerless to repress them.
The particular feast was that of the "Exaltation of
the Holy Cross. " The Indians observe it, in a similar
manner, over most of Bolivia. It is in honor of the day
that they dance and sing and carouse. But the form
of enjoyment antedates Spanish occupation. -In order
to correct gradually the customs of the aborigines and
lead them into better channels, the church permitted
modified ancient dances on its feast-days.'** In this
manner, it hoped to draw the Indians away from their
primitive idolatrous practices. In course of time, the
Indian share of celebration got the upper hand again.
With the degeneracy of the clergy (an inevitable conse-
quence of isolation and intermixture with Indian blood)
these festivities retroceded to almost what they were
before Spanish colonization. It will be a very difficult
task to modify or eradicate them. The great incentive
is strong drink, to which they have been accustomed
for untold centuries and which seems to be their only
delight. Before the conquest, a fermented beverage,
a highly intoxicating chicha, was consumed in excess
on festive occasions,** and the fundamental idea in
drinking is that of ceremonial offering.
Hence these dances present two sides. The church
festival is a pretext. The dance itself is an ancient
rite, and would be of great ethnological and even his-
torical value, could the song be interpreted, and the
decorative part of the performance, the costumes,
explained.. To this the character of the Aymará Indian
is a serious obstacle. He will not speak.*^ What we
could gather at Tiahuanaco is this. There exist, among
the Indians, two kinds of organization, both of which
have become modified through contact with civilization.
One is the original social arrangement, represented by
the AUyu or gens. The other is ancient also, not con-
trolled by the clan, and represented by the two clusters
of Masaya and Arasaya. They have yielded in a
measure to rules and precepts of the church, but display
their primitive character in the dances. Their true
signification is still occult, and it may be that most of
the performers no longer are aware of it.
We were informed at Tiahuanaco, that each group
of dancers had its instructor "Irpa."*' It was also
stated that these Irpa were chosen for life. That re-
hearsals took place before the festival, we distinctly
noticed, but could not penetrate to the places where the
rehearsals were going on. It seemed to us also, from
certain stealthy goings and comings among the Indians,
that ceremonies of a religious nature accompanied
these rehearsals, as among the Indians of the north.
The rites of Christian religion are looked upon by
the Indians as an imported magic, beneficial for certain
ends and aims, indifferent and even detrimental to
others. Their ancient beliefs and practices are resorted
to exclusively in other cases, therefore there are* a
number of sorcerers at Tiahuanaco, the titles of which
we learned, subsequently. Every disease is attributed
to supernatural causes. Thus a particular sickness
will be explained by assuming that some bone of the
dead "chuUpa" (or Indian who died during the time
of paganism) penetrated the body. They beheve in
various sorts of illwinds. There is a "Pachaayre," or
wind of God,^ which causes disease. The "Santoayre,"
or bad wind, of the Saints has its noxious effects. There
are few pictures of Saints in their liouses. The Cutu-
Cutu, or mornÍDg fog, is dreaded as due to evil spirits,
the Anchancho plays a conspicuous part. ' As they hold
certain rocks or large stones to be dangerous and attrib-
ute to them the power of swallowing ^children and even
grown people, they are careful to sacrifice coca and
alcohol (formerly it was chicha) to those fetiches.
Such anthropophagous stones are already mentioned in
the earliest traditions from Cuzo.^^ Father Escobari
caused a black stone, of which the Indians were par-
ticularly afraid, to be removed. It cost him a deal of
labor to induce the Indians to do it, and afterwards
they sacrificed coca and liquor saying: "that it was
done to appease Anchancho. " Other demons are called
Lari-Lari^o and "Hinchu-Kafiu."" They believe that
the rainbow ("Curmi") is a spiritual being and an evil
one, and do not allow their children to gaze at it, lest
it produce an "ül wind." Innumerable, ahnost, are the
animals of ill omen. The howling of dogs at night is
ominous. The unfortunate owl, large as well as small,
keeps up its bad reputation; so does the skunk. A httle
bird called Tiolas is charged, when ñying past anybody,
with taking away "the fat of the heart" and thus to
cause that organ to shrink. Rain-making is a common
practice. For that purpose the Indians of the valley
(including those of Huaqui on the lake) go to the sum-
mit of a hill south of Tiahuanaco and offer coca, liquor
and other objects which were not mentioned to us.
Ah-eady, here we noticed the important part played by
1911.] -The Ruins at Tiahuariaco. 241
coca in their religious rites, When a hailstorm ap-
proaches, the Indians run out and blow into large
cow-horns, shouting at the same time:' "pass on, pass
on." These are customs from pre-Spanish times which
the "extirpation of idolatry" (systematically instituted
between 1607 and 1615) could not eradicate.^* But
there are practices with which the Christian element is
mixed. Thus, they believe that children who die with-
out baptism return into the body of the mother, causing
it to swell. Against this supposed evil they employ
the hostia and also use it as a remedy in other cases.
We were told that the Indians invariably bury, with the
body, food, drink in a clay vessel, and a broom to enable
the soul to sweep its way to heaven, as it takes several
days to get there. While the idea of assisting the soul
with aliments to stand the journey, and the idea of that
journey itself, are manifestly ancient,^' the conception
of heaven is a Christian importation. A most interesting
example of mixture of Christian and pagan notions, are
their practices when lightning strikes a house. "Sant-
iago" (Saint James) has become to them a sort of patron
or god of lightning. The origin of this belief may be
looked for in the war-cry of the Spaniards, "Santiago,"
and the first impression caused by the use of firearms.
Musketry and cannon appeared to the Indians as light-
ning and thunder, hence they assigned to the saint,
to whom the Spaniards used to appeal loudly in battle,
the office of master of electric discharges.^^ When,
therefore, hghtning strikes a house they believe that
Santiago has stumbled or has made some mistake. The
dwelling is forthwith abandoned by its inmates, doors
and windows (if any) are draped in mourning. On the
day following, twelve boys, personifying the twelve
apostles, are given a meal in the house. After the nieal,
these boys are to go home without looking back and if
any one of them should happen to do it, he will soon be
struck by lightning himself. After they are gone, the
owner of the house comes accompanied by his wife and
a sorcerer. Inside of the dwelling that sorcerer joins
the hands of the pair, covers their heads with a black
blanket (poncho) and offers a prayer to Pachacamac
in behalf of the home. To this prayer the sorcerer
himself answers in a changed tone of voice, explaining
the lightning-stroke as a mistake, and promising that
it shall never occur again. Tiahuanaco is a place where
thunderbolts are rather frequent. Hardly a rainy
season passes without some fatal accident caused by
lightning, either at the village or in its vicinity.
The relations of the people (Indians) of Tiahuanaco
to their neighbors in the north are by no means friendly.
We were told that an ancient feud existed between the
Indians of Omasuyos (the province to which Aygachi
and other villages north of Tiahuanaco belong) and
Pacajes within the boundaries of which Tiahuanaco is
situated. Hostilities between neighboring clusters are
so frequent in Bolivia, that I would not attempt to
assign to them any historical importance.
We were also informed that when a new house is
built, the members of the Ayllu to which the builder
belongs assist him gratuitously, only he has to provide
them with food and especially with an abundance of
chicha or liquor.^^
Tiahuanaco was the first place where we came in
close contact with the Aymará Indians. We were not
prepared, and could not be, for successful intercourse
with these people. Our inquiries were not even under-
stood by the better classes, nor even by the ecclesiastic
authority, however much the priest endeavored to
assist us in the most friendly manner. Our question-
ings about clanship, consanguinity and affinity, were
entirely new, as noljody had heretofore attempted to
secure information on points that even in scientific
circles are not always sufficiently appreciated. With
the Indians directly we could not converse. Hence the
information given here is merely a picture of our earliest
efforts in Bolivia. At Tiahuanaco we had to grope our way
in the dark to find the outline of methods for approach-
ing the Indian mind. It was our hope to be able to
return to Tiahuanaco and go over the ground again.
This hope has been frustrated.
After a sojourn of nineteen days we returned to the
city of La Paz with plans of the ruins, and some collec-
tions. Our experience in campaign work in Bolivia
had begun, we knew at least some of its numerous
diflSculties.
NOTES.
' Die Ruinenstaette von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Peru. A.
Stuebel and Max Uhle, (Breslau, 1892, foUo) a spleúdidly ülustrated
and equipped work.
* Peru, Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas
(1877. Chapters XV and XVI.)
» The altitude is about 15,000 feet.
* The antiquity of these wooden goblets or cups is often doubtful; it
is certain, however, that some were used in pre-columbian times. Gen-
erally, the KEROS were of clay, more or less decorated, in color, in relief,
or both.
» "Quimsa" is three, in Aymará as well as in Quichua. "Chata" I
cannot determine in Aymará, and the few Quichua words that resemble
it afford slender basis for etymology.
' The distance is only a few miles.
' My friend, the distinguished French geologist and paleontologist,
A. Dereims, in his preliminary report on the geological exploration of
Bolivia: Inferme (in Boletin de la Oficina nacional de Immigracion, Estad-
istica y Propaganda Geográfica, Vol. Illf La Paz 1903, page 327) says
that I hinted at the possibility of their having been brought from the
shores of Titicaca at Tiquina. This ia a misunderstanding, I stated
the contrary.
«There was a "Puma-Puncu" at Cuzco, and it might be that the
name was transferred to Tiahuanaco.
» Historia del Nuevo Mundo (Sevilla 1895, Vol. IV, page 65). "El
nombre que tuvo este pueblo antes que fuese señoreado de los Incas, era
Taypicala, tomado de la lengua Aymará, que es la materna de sus natu-
rales, y quiere decir "la piedra de enmedio"; porque tenian por opinion
los indios del CoIIao, que, este pueblo estaba enmedio del Mundo, y que
del salieron después del Diluvio los que lo tornaron á poblar. " A con-
temporary of Cobo, the Jesuit Anello Oliva, in his Historia del Peru y
Varones insignes en Santidad de la Compañia de Jesus, (1651, but only
published at Lima a few years ago) has another name for it,—Chucara.
See later on.
•»Pedro Gutierrez de Santa Clara: Historia de las Guerras civiles del
Peru y de otros sucesos de las Indias (finished before 1603 but published
at Madrid in 1904-5-6) saw the ruins of Tiahuanaco about the same
time as Cieza or perhaps a few years previous; he stated: (Vol. I l l , Cap;
LXI, p. 528) "En el pueblo de Tiagúanaco, que es en la prouincia de
Atun CoUao, estaua hecho vn estanco quadrado, en donde auia a la
continua mucha agua, que despues quando yo lo vide estaua ya seco, y
allí estaua vna estatua de piedra muy lisa, de altor de vn estado, el quai
tenia vna ropa larga hasta los pies, y vn bulto como libro, que tenia en
la mano izquierda, y en la derecha vn bordón; tenia mas vnas suelas por
çapatos, abrochadas con dos correas por encima del empeyne, y vn
medio capirote como de frayle, todo loqual estaua hecho de bulto, de
vna piedra muy lisa, que parescia al natural, y deste dizen que hizo en
estas prouincias muchas cosas muy buenas." Pedro de Cieza, Primera
Parte de la Crónica del Peru (in Vedia's: Historiadores primitivos de
Indias, Vol. II, Cap. CV, p. 446) gives a description of Tiahuanaco in
which the mound of Akkapana seems to be referred to. He writes as
follows on the subject:—"Tiaguanaco no es pueblo muy grande, pero
es notado por los grandes edificios que tiene; que cierto son cosa notable
y para ver. Cerca de los aposentos principales está un collado hecho
á mano, armado sobre grandes cimientos de piedra. " Cieza reports on the
condition of the ruins about fifteen years after the arrival of the Span-
iards at Cuzco (he saw them about 1549). After him, we have a descrip-
tion by Father Cobo S. J. who visited them more than once, the first
time in 1610. (Vol. IV, p. 71). Of Akka-pana (he is the first, as fax
as I can find, who gives the name, at least in print) he says: Historia
del Nuevo Mundo (Vol. IV, p. 67)—"A la parte oriental deste edificio,
como cuatrocientos pasos, se ven unas ruinas de otro no menos grande
y suntuoso; no se puede averiguar si era distinto del primero 6 ambos
eran uno, y su fábrica se continua por alguna parte, de que ya no queda
rastro; á lo menos los indios lo llaman con distinto nombre, que es
Acapana."
"Este es un terrapleno de cuatro 6 cinco estados en alto, que parece
collado, fundado sobre grandes cimientos de piedra su forma es cuadrada
y tiene á trechos como traveses 6 cubos de fortaleza; cincuenta pies al
Oriente del ha quedado en pie una portada grande de solas trea piezas
bien labradas, á cada lado la suya, y otra encima de ambas. No ha
quedado desta fábrica más obra sobre la tierra que el terrapleno y algunas
piedras labradas que salen de los cimientos, por donde se muestra su
forma y planta. Cerca deste terrapleno está otro también cuadrado;
dividelos una calle de cincuenta pies de ancho, y así parcee ser ambos
una misma obra. Las paredes deste último edificio eran admirables,
dado que ya está por tierra. De un pedazo de muralla que tolavía se
conserva en pie por la buena diligencia y cuidado de un cura que hubo
en Tiaguanaco, llamado Pedro de Castillo, que murió de mucha edad el
año de mil y seiscientos y viente (hombre curioso y que tenia bien con-
siderada la grandeza y antigüedad de los edificios, por los muchos años
que fue cura del dicho pueblo) se puede sacar su labor y traza. Es pues
esta muralla de piedras cuadradas sin mezcla y tan ajustadas unas con
otras, como ajustan dos maderos acepillados. Las piedras son de medi-
ana grandeza y puestas á trechos otras muy grandes á modo de rafas;
de suerte, que como en nuestros edificios de tapias ó adobes se suelen
entremeter rafas de ladrillos de alto á bajo, asi esta pared y muralla
tiene á trechos, en lugar de rafas, unas piedras á manera de columnas
cuadradas de tan excesiva grandeza, que sube cada una del cimiento
hasta lo alto y remate de la pared, que es de tres ó cuatro estados, y no
se sabe lo que délias entra en la tierra en que están hincadas. Por los
rastros que desta muralla se descubren, se echa de ver que era una gran
cerca que, saliendo deste edificio último, corría hacia el Oriente y ocupaba
un grande espacio. Aqui se hallan rastros de otra acequia de piedra
como la primera, y esta parece venir de la Sierra que está enfrente y
distante una legua." Several points in this description deserve par-
ticular attention. In the first place Cobo calls the mound a "terraplén"
or platform. Next he speaks of another one divided from the first by a
"street of fifty feet in width." This is the court north of the mound:—
The first or largest Court measures, longitudinally, 424 and 422 feet,
transversely (from north to south) 398 by 390. The pillars vary in
height between eight and twelve feet and are grooved lengthwise, so that
the ends of stones or slabs might have been fitted in. Squier has justly
remarked: "they appear to have had a wall of rough stones built up
between them, supporting a terre-plein of earth, about eight feet above
the general level of the plain." The height indicated by Cobo for
the wall which was still standing is greater than that of the pillars as they
are now, for three to four "estados" or fathoms would be equal to from
eighteen to twenty-four feet. Where Cobo actually measured, he indi-
cates dimensions in Spanish feet of the period. What he says is plain:
from pillar to piUar there was a wall well cut of stones fitted without
cement, like those lining the lower portions of Akkapana. He states:
"From the vestiges that are visible it can be seen it was a great circum-
vallation that, from this last Edifice, extended to the east and covered a
great space. " By "last Edifice" Cobo means the rectangle inside of the
large court. At his time it was already "tumbled to the ground" and
only one fragment remaining, from which the construction of the whole
could be deduced. Hence, we may safely conclude it to have been a
court, the approximate size of which is 200 by 150 feet. In it stood a
building of which hardly a trace is left. The large carved gateway, about
the figures on which so much has been written, was one of the entrances
to the outer square and is in its original position. The gateway east
of Akkapana, mentioned by Cobo, may have been the one now used as
entrance to the cemetery and figured on pages 284-5 of Squier's Peru.
It is certainly not the one figured by Squier, Peru (p. 283). The mention,
by Cobo, of three parts, whereas all the gateways so far known are mono-
lithic, makes it difficult to decide.
Between the description of Cieza and that of Cobo, in point of date,

we have the notice which the priest Diego de Alcobaza gave, in writing,
to Garcilasso de la Vega and the latter incorporated in the Comentarios
reales (Vol. I, Lib. I l l , Cap. I, folio 57). "En Tiahuanacu prouinoia del
Collao entre otras ay vna antigualla digna de inmortal memoria, está
pegada á la laguna llamada por los Españoles Chucuytu, cuyo nobre
proprio es Chuquiuitu, alli están vnos edificios grandissimos, entre las
quales está vn patio quadrado de quinze bracas á vna parte, y á otra
con su cerca de mas de dos estados de alto, á vn lado del patio está vna
sala de quaréta y cinco pies de largo, y veinte y cinco de ancho, cubierta
á semejâça de las pieças cubiertas de paja, q vuestra merced vio en la
casa del Sol en esta ciudad del Cozco; el patio que tengo dicho con sus
paredes y suelo, y la sala y su techumbre y cubierta, y las portadas, y
vnbrales de dos puertas que la sala tiene, y otra puerta que tiene el patio,
todo esto es de una sola pieça hecha, y labrada en vn peñasco, y las pa-
redes del patio, y las de la sala son de tres quartas de vara de ancho, y
el techo de la sala, por de fuera, paresce de paja, aunque es de piedra,
porque como los Yndios cubren sus casas con paja, porque semejasse
esta á las otras peynaro la piedra, y la arrayaron para que paresciesse
cubierta de paja. La laguna bate en vn lienço de los del patio, los
naturales dizeh que aquella casa, y los demás edificios los tenian dedicados
al hazedor del vniuerso. También ay por alli cerca otra gran suma de
piedras labradas en figuras de hombres, y mugeres, tan al natural que
parece que están viuos, beuiédo con los vaeos en las manos, otros sentados,
otros en pie parados, otros que van pasando vn arroyo, que por entre
aquellos edificios passa: otros estatuas están con sus criaturas en las faldas
y regaço, otros las lleüan á cuestas, y otros de mil maneras. Dizen
los Yndios presentes, que por grandes peccados que hizieron los de aquel
tiempo, y porque apedrearon vn hombre que passó por aquella prou-
incia, fueron conuertidos en aquellas estatuas. Hasta aqui son palabras
de Diego de Alcobaça, el qual en muchas prouincias de aquel reyno ha
sido vicario, y predicador de los Yndios, que sus perlados lo han mudado
de vnas partes á otras porque como mestizo natural del Cozco sabe
mejor el lenguage de los Yndios, que otros no naturales de aquella tierra,
y haze mas fruto."
Too little attention has been paid to this description. Some have even
attempted to discredit it by insinuating that Alcobaza wrote from hearsay,
and on the assumption that he was a Jesuit established at Juli, whence
he could easily obtain information about Tiahuanaco. Alcobaza was
a secular priest, and there is no reason why he should not have seen
Tiahuanaco. His description contains some interesting statements.
It is not clear where the buildings and courts are to be looked for which
he mentions; but still less is it clear in the case of the description by
Cieza. The main objection against Alcobaza seems to be that he speaks
of the Lake as bathing one side of the buildings or Courts. It would
lead to suppose that they stood in the vicinity of Puma-puncu. The seated
figures of which Alcobaza speaks are not inventions of his, since the two
statues now in front of the church of Tiahuanaco represent squatting
Indians. A tall statue with a vase in hand stands to-day in the great
court. In regard to the statement of the Lake approaching Tiahuanaco
80 near that its waters bathed the ruins, while Cieza mentions the village
of Huaqui as in existence at his time; I would observe, that the point
on the shore, nearest to Tiahuanaco, is not Huaqui, but the outlet of the
Tiahuanaco stream north of it. A former encroachment of Lake Titicaca
would, therefore, have extended up the present course of the river, leaving
Huaqui on the declivity to the right. The statues said by Aleobaza to
represent women carrying babies on their backs may have disappeared,
or his fancy misled him, just as, at this day, craving for symbolism leads
investigators to see mythology everywhere.
To translate "estados" by "stories" in speaking of the height of a
wall is rather strange. "Estado" is a, fathom or, more or less, six feet.
Hence, when Aleobaza estimates the height of the wall at "two estados"
or twelve feet, it indicates that he was a sober observer.
Cobo states that Akka-pana rests on "great foundations of stone."
He, as well as Cieza, mistook the wall along the base of the mound for
foundations.
" Cobo speaks of courts near Puma-puncu and also of one running
to the east from Akka-pana, of which few vestiges remain. But he is
silent about the sculptured gate. Cieza, in Primera Parte, (p. 446)
mentions monolithic gateways in general: "en otro lugar mas hacia
el poniente deste edificio están otras mayores antiguallas, porque hay
muchas portadas grandes con sus quicios, umbrales y portaJetes, todo de
una sola piedra." He also treats of statues: "Mas adelante de este
cerro están dos Ídolos de piedra del talle y figura humana, muy primer-
amente hechos y formadas las faiciones; tanto, que paresce que se hicier-
on por mano de grandes artifices 6 maestros; son tan grandes,.que parescen
pequeños gigantes, y vese que tienen forma de vestimentas largas, difer-
enciadas de las que vemos á los naturales destas provincias; en laa cabezas
paresce tener su ornamento. Cerca destas estatuas de piedra está otro
edificio, del cuál la antigüedad suya y falta de letras es causa para que no
se sepa que gentes hicieron tan grandes cimientos y fuerzas, y que tanto
tiempo por ello ha pasado, porque de presente no se vé mas que una mur-
alla muy bien obrada y que debe de haber mucho tiempo y edades que se
hizo; algunas de las piedras están muy gastadas y consumidas, y en esta
parte hay piedras tan grandes y crescidas, que causa admiración pensar
como, siendo de tanta grandeza, bastaron fuerzas humanas á las traer
donde las vemos; y muchas destas piedras que digo, están labradas de
diferentes maneras, y algunas dellas tienen forma de cuerpos de hombres,
que debieron ser sus ídolos; jimto á la muralla hay muchos huecos y
concavidades debajo de tierra." Cieza mentions, in all, three human
figures of large size. Up to this date six very tall statues are known, not
counting the colossal head at the Museum of La Paz. One is erect,
two are squatting, and three are lying on the ground, south of Akka-pana.
I do not mention smaller ones at La Paz and at the "Museum" in Tiahu-
anaco.
12 Peru, (page 287), Stuebel and Uhle, Die Buinenstaette von Tiahuanaco.
(Plate 39, fig. 29.)
" Puma-puncu is possibly the site which Cieza Primera Parte (p. 446)
describes as follows: "en otro lugar más hacia el poniente deste edificio
están otras mayores antiguallas, porque hay muchas portadas grandes
con sus quicios, umbrales y portales, todo de una sola piedra. Lo que
yo mas noté cuando anduve mirando y escribiendo estas cosas fue, que
destas portadas tan grandes salían otras mayores piedras, sobreque
estaban formadas, de las quales tenian algunas treinta pies en ancho, y
de largo quince y mas, y de frente seis, y esto y la portada y sus quicios y
umbrales era una sola piedra, . ." In case this applies to Puma-
puncu, the statue found there and figured in Stuebel and Uhle (Ruin-
ensiaette &ca Plate 31, fig. 2) is the one referred to by Cieza. We have
from the pen of Cobo, a more precise description. Historia del Nuevo
Mundo, (page 66, Vol. IV). "Lo principal de la fábrica se llama Puma-
puncu, que es tanto como puerta de león; es un terrapleno 6 mogote hecho
á mano, de altura de dos estados, fundado sobre grandes y bien labradas
piedras, que tienen forma de las losas, que nosotros ponemos sobre las
sepulturas. Está el terrapleno puesto en cuadro, con los cuatro leinzos
iguales, que cada uno tiene cien pasos de esquina á esquina; rematase
en dos andenes de grandes losas, muy parejas u llanas; entre el primero
y segundo anden hay un espacio como una grande grada de seis pies
de ancho, y eso tiene menos el segundo cuerpo que el primero. La haz 6
frente deste edificio es el lienzo que mira al Oriente y á otras grandes ruinas
que luego diré. Deste lienzo delantero sale la obra con la misma altura
y paredes de piedra, veinticuatro pies de ancho y sesenta de largo, form-
ando á los lados dos ángulos; y este pedazo que sobresale del cuadro
parece haber sido alguna gran pieza 6 sala puesta en medio de la frente
del edificio. Algo mas adentro de aquella parte que está sobresaliente,
se vé entero el suelo enlosado de una muy capaz y suntuosa pieza, que
debió ser el templó o la parte principal del. Tiene de largo este enlosado
ciento y cincuenta y cuatro pies, y de ancho cuarenta y seis; las losas son
todas de extraña grandeza; yo las medí, y tiens la mayor treinta y dos
pies de largo, diez y seis de ancho (p. 67) y de grueso ó canto seis; las
otras son algo menores, unas de á treinta pies y otras de á menos, pero
todas de rara grandeza; están tan lisas y llanas como una tabla bien acep-
illada, y con muchas labores y molduras por los lados. No hay al pre-
sente paredes levantadas sobre este enlosado; pero de las muchas piedras
bien labradas que hay caidas al redondel, en que se ven pedazos de puer-
tas y ventanas, se colige haber estado cercado de paredes muy curiosas.
Solamente está en pie sobre la losa mayor una parte que mira al Oriente
cavada en una gran piedra muy labrada, la cual piedra tiene de alto nueve
pies y otros tantos de ancho, y el hueco de la puerta es de siete pies de
largo, y el ancho en proporción. Cerca desta puerta está en pie una
ventana que mira al Sur, toda de una sola piedra muy labrada."
"Por la frente deste edificio se descubren los cimientos de una cerca de
piedra labrada, que, naciendo de las esquinas deste lienzo delantero,
ocupa otro tanto espacio cuadrado como tiene el terrapleno y cimiento
de toda la fábrica. Dentro desta cerca, como treinta pies de la frontera
del edificio, hacia la esquina del Sur, se ven los cimientos de dos piezas
pequeñas cuadradas que se levantan del suelo tres pies, de piedras sillares
muy polidas, las cuales tienen talle de ser estanques ó baños ó cimientos
de algunas torres 6 sepulturas. Por medio del edificio terraplenado, á
nivel del suelo de fuera del, atraviesa un acueducto de caños y tajeas de
piedra de maravillosa labor: es una acequia de poco mas dos palmos de
ancho, y otro tanto de alto, de piedras cuadradas, bien labradas y ajus-
tadas, que no les hace falta la mezcla; la piedra de encima tiene un encaje
sobre las paredes de la dicha acequia, que sobresale de sus bordas un dedo,
y eso entra en el hueco della. "
Both Cieza and Cobo agree in assigning to the Mound of Akka-pana
as well as to Puma-puncu, an artificial origin. It is plain they are natural.
" Compare my: Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of
the southeastern United States, (Part II, pp. 460 and 465).
« This is established by Cobo, Historia (Vol. IV, p. 71). "El segundo
argumento que yo hallo de su antigüedad aún me hace mas fuerza, y es,
la multitud de piedras labradas que hay debajo de la primera; porque
es así, que ultra de las que se ven sobre la superficie, así de las que se han
caído de los edificios como otras muy grandes que están apartadas dellos,
pone admiración ver las que se sacan de debajo de la tierra y el modo
como se hallan; porque estando como está el suelo de todo aquel campo,
llano, parejo y cubierto de yerba, sin señal alguna de barrancas ni derrum-
baderos, en cualquiera parte que caven la tierra por mas de media legua
en tomo de las ruinas sobredichas, á uno y dos estados de hondo se halla
el suelo lleno destas piedras labradas, y entre ellas muy grandes y hei^
mosas losas, que parece estar enterrada aqui alguna gran ciudad."
" Cobo, Historia (IV, p. 67). "Por medio del edificio terraplenado,
á nivel del suelo de fuera del, atraviesa un acueducto de caños y tajeas
de piedra de maravillosa labor: es una acequia de poco más de dos palmos
de ancho y otro tanto de alto, de piedras cuadradas bien labradas y
ajustadas, que no les hace falta la mezcla; la piedra de encima tiene un
encaje sobre las paredes de la dicha acequia, que sobresale de sus bordos
im dedo, y eso entra en el hueco della. " (p. 69.) "Aqui se hallan rastros
de otra acequia de piedra como la primera, y ésta parece venir de la Sierra
que está enfrente y distante una lagua. " The former was connected with
Puma-puncu, the other with the great court north of Akka-pana.
" Cobo, Historia (IV, p. 71 and 72) mentions carved or cut stones
.'ound in the courts of houses of the village. It is singular that both he
and Cieza allude to the ruins of edifices built by the Inca. They were
still standing in 1610. Cobo: (p. 72). "La causa principal de tener
los indios la veneración que tenian á este adoratorio, dabió ser su grande
antigüedad. Adorábanlo los naturales desde tiempo inmemorial antes
que fuesen conquistados de los Reyes del Cuzco, y lo mismo hicieron
los dichos Reyes después que fueron Señores desta provincia, que tuvieron
por templo célebre el sobredicho edificio de Puma-puncu, y lo ilustra-
ron y enriquecieron, acrecentando su ornato y el número de ministros
y sacrificios; y edificaron junto á él palacios Reales en que dicen nació
250 • American Antiquarian Sodety. [Oct.,
Manco-capac, hijo de Guayna-capac, cuyas ruinas se ven hoy; y era

edificio muy grande y de muchas piezas y apartamientos." These
"Inca" buildings are also alluded to by Cieza. Primera Parte (p.
447). "Apartados destos edificios están los aposentos de los ingas y la
casa donde nasció Mango inga, hijo de Gaynacapa, y están junto
á ellos dos sepulturas de los señores naturales deste pueblo, tan altas
como torres anchas y esquinadas, las puertas al nascimiento del sol."
There are no traces left of these structures, on the surface at least.
The architecture of the Inca is well known and resembles that of Tia-
huanaco in many respects so much that there is a statement that the Inca
imitated Tiahuanaco in their buildings at Cuzco. Cieza (p. 446).
"porque yo hé oido afirmar á indios que los ingas hicieron los edificios
grandes del Cuzco por la forma que vieron tener la muralla 6 pared que
se vé en este pueblo; y aun dicen más, que los primeros ingas platicaron
de hacer su corte y asiento della en este Tiaguanaco. "
'8 A. Dereims, Informe (p. 324). Cobo, Historia (IV, p. 69) mentions
already the different kinds of stones used: "Son todas estas piedras
de dos ó tres especies, imas amoladoras, rojas y blandas de labrar, y
f otras pardas 6 cenicentas y muy duras. " The description is very good
L for the period. He did not, however, notice that the red sand-rock
is cropping out on the site of the ruins, still less that the andésite forms
the height of Quimsa-chata.
" The I-shaped clamps are mentioned by Squier, from whose practiced
eye they certainly could not escape. Peru, (p. 281). "Nearly all the
blocks of stone scattered over the plain show the cuts made to receive
what is called the I-clamp, and the round holes to receive the metal
pins that were to retain the blocks in their places, vertically." It is
not without interest to note how the grooves destined to receive the
clamps were begun.
2° Squier, Ut supra.
" "Huanca," in Aymará, is a large stone. Bertonio, Vocabulario (parte
II, 146). "Huancacatatha" signifies to throw down blocks of stone one
after another in succession. "KoUu," as well known, is a height.
^ Fray Antonio de la Calancha, Coronica moralizada (Vol. I, Lib. IV,
Cap. XIII, p. 865). "El lugar y asiento que oy se llama Pucarani donde
está la Imagen de la soberana Reyna de los Angeles se llamó en su Antig-
üedad, i en los tiêpos de sus Reyes Ingas Quescamarca, que quiere decir;
asiento i lugar de pedernales, porque son muchos les que alli se crian,
* . . . No se apovecharon los Indios del fuego de los pedernales, porque
no supieron de eslabón ni yesca; sacavan con dos palillos lunbre de
ciertos árboles, cosa q oy vsan, pero aprovechávanse de los pedernales para
sus flechas, ponialos en los remates, puntas i cabos, i eran tan agudos
como navajas, i tan fuertes como azero, azian grandes daños en sus con-
trarios, i assi eran muy temidos, sagravan con ellos adelgaçando tan
. afiladas lancetas, que con destreza azian aseguradas sangrias, no como
vsan los Españoles, sino al modo de las vallestillas con que sangran los
albeytares."
"Quatro leguas deste assiento de Quescamarca está la fortaleza en
que se anparavan sus abitadores quando los Indios Pacaxes los afligian,
eran mas el número, aunque no mayores en el ánimo. Llamavase esta
fortaleza Pucarani; vivian familias de Indios por aquello; campos, sin
pueblos ni reducciones, asta que los Castellanos fundaron de familias
segregadas este pueblo, i por gusto de los Indios le llamaron Pucarani
á devoción de su fortaleza, no queriendo se le quedase el nonbre de
Quescamarca primtivo nonbre de su asiento." Bertonio, Vocabulario,
(Part I, folio 567) has: "Piedra aguda para tresquilar el ganado:—
Chillisaa, Quesea." On fol. 365, Chillisaa Cala is called: black fiint
(obsidian) used for shearing.—Marca is settlement..
The probable identity of the heights and ruins at Santa Ana with the
ancient Pucarana will be shown in another place.
^' Besides Calancha, as above quoted, there is an older and positive
statement, that the Pacajes Indians (Aymara) used bows and arrows
in war. In the invaluable publication of Spanish documents from the
sixteenth century (mostly), due to the late Don Marcos Jiménez de la
Espada under the auspices of the Department of Fomento and entitled :
Relaciones geográficas de Indias (Vol. II) there is an official report on
pacajes from the year 1586 probably (p. 64). The writer states (p. 59) :
"Peleaban á pie con unas macanas á manera de hachas darmas, con
algunas lanzas á manera de las nuestras, con arcos y flechas, con hondas
y algunas rodelas traidas de las Yungas."
''*Relación de la Provincia de los Pacajes, (supra, also p. 62). "Las
casas de los Caciques y tambos usaron largas y cuadradas, y la madera
traian de los Yungas. " If they could carry timbers from the depths of
the Yungas valleys that lie nearly ten thousand feet lower than the Puna,
they certainly might take along the wood for bows, also.
2' Compare, Alonso de Ercilla y Zuñiga, La Araucana. (Edition of
1733. Parte primera. Canto Primero, fol. I, page 2.)
"Las Armas de ellos mas exercitadas,"
Son Picas, Alabardas, i Lançones,
Con otras puntas largas enhastadas.
De la faicion, i forma de punçones;
Hachas, Martillos, Macas barreadas.
Dardos, Sargentas, fiechas, i bastones.
Laços de fuertes mimbres, i Bejucos.
Tiros arrojadiços, i Trabucos. "
Relación hecha por Pedro de Valdivia al Emperador, dándole cuenta
de lo sucedido en el descubrimiento, conquista y población de Chile y en su
viaje al Peru. October 15th 1550. (In Documentos inéditos del Archivo
de Indias, Volume 4, pp. 51 and 53.) "Hiriéronme sesenta caballos
y otros tantos cristianos, de ñechazos é botes de lanza. . ."—"con
mucha flecheria y lanzas á 20 é á 25 palmos. " The fact of the use of
bows and arrows by the ancient Chilians is therefore well established.
2« Segunda Parte de la Crónica del Peru, (Madrid 1880, Cap. IV, p. 4).
"También cuentan lo que yo tengo escripto en la primera parte, que
252 American Antiquarian Society. . [Oct.,
en la isla de Titicaca, en los siglos pasados hobo unas gentes barbadas,
blancas como nosotros, y que saliendo del valle de Coquimbo un capitán
que habia por nombre Cari, allegó á donde agora es Chucuito, de donde,
después de haber hecho algunas nuevas poblaciones, pasó con su gente
á la isla." But the story rests on very slender basis.
" Compare the Chavin slab with plates 10 and 31a, of the magnifi-
cent work of Stuebel and Uhle, Die'Ruinenstaette von Tidhitanaco.
'* On the supposition that the builders of Tiahuanaco were not Aymará
Indians, we would have three types of pottery in the ruins: an oldest one,
about which we know that it is not met anywhere else in Bolivia, except
as intrusive specimens; Inca pottery, well known and very characteristic;
the Aymará ware of the Puna, also abundantly known.
^' I cannot find much difference between the garb on these statues and
Aymará costume as described by older authors, although Cieza asserts the
contrary. Primera Parte de la Crónica, (page 446), "y vese que tienen
forma de vestimentas largas, diferenciadas de las que vemos á los natu-
rales destas provincias; en las cabezas paresce tener su ornamento."
The statues have short garments.
ä" We were careful to measure all the sides of each block, as well as
of each carving on it. The work is not better than at Sillustani, the
joining or fitting is even nicer at the latter place. This may be due
to the fact that the buildings of Sillustani are of much more recent date,
probably not older than the latter half of the fifteenth century. They
are plainly Inca work.
•' It is needless to quote documentary evidence in support. The struc-
tures at Tiahuanaco were abandoned and in ruins when the Spaniards
first saw them.
^ Inquiries into traditions and myths concerning the origin of the
Peruvian Indians began at a very early date. Already Oviedo, Historia
general y natural de las Indias, (Reprint by Amador de los Rios, Madrid,
1851, Vol. IV, Lib. XLVI, Cap. XVII, p. 223) gives a short account of
traditions concerning the origin of the Inca tribe. The earliest mentions
of Tiahuanaco so far published are (not counting Gutierrez de Santa
Clara: See note 10) those from Cieza and Betanzos. I place Cieza first,
not that he would be more reliable or his statements more valuable, but
because he described the ruins from personal inspection. In the first
part of his Crónica del Peru, (p. 446) he says: "Yo pregunté á los
naturales, en presencia de Juan Vargas (que es él que sobre ellos tiene
encomienda), si estos edificios se habian hecho en tiempo de los ingas,
y riéronse desta pregunta, afirmando lo ya dioho, que antes que ellos
reinasen estaben hechos, mas que ellos no podian decir ni afirmar quien
los hizo, mas de que oyeron á sus pasados que en una noche remaneció
hecho lo que allí se veía. Por esto, y por lo que también dicen haber visto
en la isla de Titicaca hornbres barbudos, y haber hecho el edificio de Vina-
que semejantes gentes, digo que por ventura pudo ser que antes que los
ingas mandasen debió de haber alguna gente de entendimiento en estos
reinos, venida por alguna parte que no se sabe, los cuales harían estas
1911.] The Ruins al Tiahuanaco. 253
cosas, y siendo pocos, y los naturales tantos, serían muertos en las guerras."
In his Segunda Parte (Cap. V, p. 7), he states: "los bultos grandes
questán en el pueblo de Tiahuanacu, se tiene por fama que fue desde
aquellos tiempos," thus assigning the most remote antiquity (for the
region) to Tiahuanaco. Cieza admits that he required interpreters for
commimicating with the Indians. Segunda Parte, (Cap. I, p. 13) "y
por hacerlo con más verdad vine «1 Cuzco, siendo en ella corregidor el
capitán Juan de Sayavedra, donde hice juntar á Cayu Túpac, que es
el que hay vivo de los descendientes de Huaina Capac . . -, y á
otros de los orejones, . . . y con los mejores intérpretes y lenguas que
se hallaron les pregunté, estos señores Incas qué gente era y de qué
nación," Still his statements fairiy agrée with those of Betanzos, be-
cause traditions were fresher, even in the recollection of uninitiated ones.
It is not out of place, in regard to Cieza and his merits, to recall the
remark of Pedro Pizarro, Relación del descubrimiento y conquista de los
reinos del Peru (1671, in Documentos inéditos para la Historia de Espana,
Vol. 5, p. 356). "Esto dicen hacia Cieza en una corónica que ha querido
hacer de oidas; y creo yo que muy poco de vista, porque en verdad yo
no le conozco con ser uno de los primeros que en este reino entraron. "
Pedro Pizarro came to Peru with Francisco, and lived at Cuzco the re-
mainder of his lifetinie.
Juan de Betanzos was a resident of Cuzco and married to a woman
from the Inca tribe. He was thoroughly acquainted with the Quichua
language and one of the parties appointed by Vaca de Castro to examine
and watch the Indians of whom information on the past of the Cuzco
tribe was expected. "Discurso sobre la descendencia y Gobierno de los
Ingas, " from the year 1542, published by Jiménez de la Espada, in which
no mention is made of Tiahuanaco. According to Calancha, (and others)
Betanzos was also commissioned by the viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza
to conduct an investigation of Indian Antiquities, in 1550. Coronica
moralizada (Vol. I, 1638, Lib. I, Cap. XIV, p. 92). "Juan de Vetanços
que por orden del Virey don Antonio de Mendoza por los años de mil
y quinientos i cicueta hizo antiquisimas informaciones. " The results
of his inquiries are embodied in the: Suma y Narración de los Incas
que los Indios llamaron Capaccuna &ca, (finished 1551, and published
Madrid, 1880, in the same volume as Cieza's second part). The text is,
unfortunately, not complete. At the risk of being too prolix I give
here what relates to Tiahuanaco (Cap. I and II). "En los tiempos
antiguos, dicen ser la tierra é provincia del Perú escura, y que en ella
no habia lumbre ni dia. Que habia en este tiempo cierta gente en ella,
la cual gente tenia cierto Señor que la mandaba y á quien ella era sub-
jeta. Del nombre desta gente y del Señor que la mandaba no se acu-
erdan. Y en estos tiempos que esta tierra era toda noche, dicen que
salió de una laguna que es en esta tierra del Perú en la provincia que
dicen de CoUasuyu, un Señor que llamaron Con Tici Viracocha, el cual
dicen haber sacado consigo cierto número de gentes, del cual número
no se acuerdan. Y como este hubiese salido desta laguna, fuese de alli
á un sitio ques junto á esta laguna, questá donde hoy dia es un pueblo
que llaman Tiaguanaco, en esta provincia ya dicha del Collao; y como
allí fuese él y los suyos, luego alli en improviso hizo el sol y el dia, y que
al sol mandó que anduviese por el curso que anda; y luego dicen que hizo
las estrellas y la luna. El cual Con Tici Viracocha, dicen haber salido
otra vez antes de aquella, y que en esta vez primera que salió, hizo el cielo
y la tierra, y que todo lo dejó escuro; y que entonces hizo aquella gente
que habia en el tiempo de la escuridad ya dicha; y que esta gente le hizo
cierto deservicio á este Viracocha, y como della estuviese enojado, tomó
esta vez postrera y salió como antes habia hecho, y á aquella gente
primera y á su Señor, en castigo del enojo que le hicieron, hizolos que se
tornasen piedra luego."
"Asi como salió y en aquella mesma hora, como ya hemos dicho, dicen
que hizo el sol y dia, y luna y estrellas; y que esto hecho, que en aquel
. asiento de Tiaguanaco, hizo de piedra cierta gente y manera de dechado
de la gente que despues habia de producir, haciéndolo en esta manera.
Que hizo de piedra cierto número de gente y un principal que la gobernaba
y señoreaba y muchas mujeres preñadas y otras paridas y que los niños
tenian en cunas, según su uso; todo lo cual ansí hecho de piedra, que lo
apartaba á cierta parte; y que él luego hizo otra provincia allí en Tiag-
uanaco, formándolos de piedras en la manera ya dicha, y como los hobiese
acabado de hacer, mandó á toda su gente que se partiesen todos los que
él allí consigo tenia, dejando solos dos en su compañia, á los cuales dijo
que mirasen aquellos bultos y los nombres que les habia dado á cada
género de aquellos, señalándoles y diciendoles, estos se llamarán los
tales y saldrán de tal fuente en tal provincia, y poblarán en ella, y allí
serán aumentados; y estos saldrán de tal cueva, y se nombrarán los
fulanos, y poblarán en tal parte; y ansí como yo aqui los tengo pintados
y hechos' de piedras, ansí han de salir de las fuentes, rios, y cuevas y
cerros, &ca &ca &ca." (p. 5) " E como el Con Tici Virtcocha hobiese ya
despachado esto, y ido en la manera ya dicha, dicen que los dos que allí
quedaron con él en el pueblo de Tiaguanaco, que los envió asimismo á
que llamasen y sacasen las gentes en la manera que ya habéis oido,
Y estos dos ansí despachados, dicen que él ansimismo se partió por el
derecho hacia el Cuzco. . . . "
There is hardly any doubt that Betanzos obtained his information
at first hand and partly, at least, when Indian lore was not yet influenced
by contact. His version bears every mark of being authentic. The
substance may be resumed as follows:
An earliest period of darkness, during which "heaven and earth" were
created by a man. After this first creative act, the people he had made
angered him, and he disappeared. At what place this first "creation"
took place is not told. This tale of an obscure time is, to-day, believed
by the BoUvian Amyará, who call it "Chamak-Tempu," Chamak
meaning—"dark" or sinister. But it should not be lost sight of, that
the earliest teaching, as well as those of all missionaries afterwards,
tended to impress upon the Indian, that his primitive condition, from a
religious standpoint, was one of mental obscurity. Also must we recollect,
that the tale of the world's creation, according to Mosaic tradition, begins
with a period of obscurity. And this tale was told the natives at a very
early time. • It might be therefore, that already when Betanzos began
his inquiries, some vague Christian notions had penetrated the Indian
mind. I merely call attention to such possibilities.
Then the same man reappeared, from some part of the Lake of Titicaca,
under the name of Con Tici Viracocha. He took revenge upon the
first people by turning them into stones and went to Tiahua,naco, and
there made the sun, moon and stars. After having created these at
Tiahuanaco, the "Viracocha" (as I shall call him for the sake of brevity)
made statues there in the shape of men, which statues became either
models from which mankind was afterwards copied or were transported to
the various places where they afterwards took life: If we compare this
tale with the descriptions of stone-figures at Tiahuanaco, by Diego de
Alcebaza, we tannot help suspecting that it might be an Indian "myth
of observation."
But Betanzos also obtained from the Indians what they claimed to be
a personal description of the "Viracocha." (Cap. II, p. 7.) "que
preguntando á los Indios que qué figura tenia este Viracocha cuando
ansí le vieron los antiguos, según que ellos tenian noticia;, y dijéronme
que era un hombre alto de cuerpo "y que tenia una vestidura blanca que
le daba hasta los pies, y questa vestidura traia ceñida; é que traia el
cabello corto y una corona hecha en la cabeza á manera de sacerdote;
y que andaba destocado, y que traia en las manos cierta cosa que á ellos
les parece el dia de hoy como estos breviarios que los sacerdotes traian
en las manos. Y esta es la razón que yo desto tuve, según que los Indios
me dijeron. Y pregúnteles cómo se llamaba aquella persona en cuyo
lugar aquella piedra era puesta, y dijéronme que se llama Con Tici Vira-
cocha Pachayachachic, que quiere decir en su lengua. Dios Hacedor
del Mundo." This information, he asserts, to have obtained from
the Indians at Cacha, where fairly preserved remains of Inca archi-
tecture exist to-day and where a stone-statue made in reriiembrance of
Viracocha existed at the time Betanzos made these inquiries. He saw
it and many other Spaniards also. I have no doubt that Betanzos heard
this tale from the Indians directly and that it is no invention of his; but,
although only about fifteen years had elapsed since the first contact of
the aborigines with Europeans, the possibility is not excluded that the
former may, in order to ingratiate themselves with the latter, have
represented the Viracocha as an apostle (of whom they had been repeat-
edly told already) and in the garb of a dominican monk, as the white
robe would suggest. Leaving this aside, I call attention to the fact that
the tales preserved by Betanzos are "but repeated, with slight variations,
by all writers subsequent to him, and that the additions which they
made, bear a post-Columbian stamp. This I shall endeavor to establish.
Garcilasso de la Vega in his Comentarios reales, (Vol. I) discriminates
between specific Inca tradition and traditions of other Peruvian tribes.
According to him, the former make no mention of Tiahuanaco, whereas
the people of the Collao (Aymara) and those of Cuntisuyu west of
Cuzco: "dizen pues que cessadas las aguas se aparesció vn hombre en
Tiahuanaco, que está al mediodia del Cozco, q fué tan poderoso que
repartió el mundo en quarto partes, y las dio á quatro hombres que llamó
Reyes. " This is, in substance, also the account of Betanzos. Accord-
ing to Garcilasso, the tradition mentioning Tiahuanaco is a Colla, hence
Aymara tradition.
Two years after Betanzos had completed his work, the Real Cédula
of December 20th, 1553, was promulgated, by which the Prince Regent
of Spain ordered the royal Audencia of Peru to report upon primitive
customs of the Peruvian Indians. According to Father Joseph de Acosta,
Historia natural y moral de ¡as Indias (1608, Lib. VI, p. 429) Philip II
subsequently commanded a close inquiry into the origin, religious rites
and customs of the Inca, and the outcome as far as officially known, ia
contained in two publications. One is entitled. Relación de las Idolatrías
de los Incas é Indios y de como se enterraban, (Documentos inédit; de Indias,
Vol. XXI, pp. 131 to 220). The other bears the title of: Informaciones
acerca del Senorio y Gobierno de los Ingas. (In the same volume with the
Memorias of Montesinos, Madrid 1882, pp. 177 to 259): Both were
made under the auspices of Don Francisco de Toledo, and neither men-
tions Tiahuanaco. The last embodies exclusively the declarations of
Quichua Indians, the former (as far as the atrocious misprints of Indian
names permit judging) were also of Cuzco Indians or of natives from the
north and west, without a single Aymara or Colla among them. Hence
it seems at least very likely, that the Tiahuanaco traditions are speci-
fically AjTnará.
At the time when the above mentioned investigations were carried
on (1570 to 1572) the secular priest, Cristóbal de Molina, was at Cuzco,
and he improved his position and constant intercourse with the Indians
for collecting their traditions and folklore. Twenty years had elapsed
since Betanzos did the same, and we may expect some changes, at least
in the wording, of the stories. The writings of Molina are known to us
as yet only in the English translation by Markham under the title of:
The Fables and Rites of the Incas, (In: Narratives of the Rites and Laws
of the Incas, Hackluyt Society, 1875). Molina claims, as one of his
chief sources "But in a house of the Sun called Poquen Cancha, which
is near Cuzco, they had the life of each one of the Yncas, with the lands
they conquered, painted with figures on certain boards, and also their
origin. Among these paintings the following fable was represented."
&ca.—
In another place: Aboriginal Myths and Traditions concerning the
Island of Titicaca, (American Anthropologist). I have alluded to the
analogy of the myths gathered by Molina with those preserved by Betan-
zos. The difference between the two consists mainly in the first.state-
ments of the former: "In the life of Manco Capac, who was the first
Ynca and from whom they began to be called children of the Sun and to
worship the Sun, they had a full account of the deluge. They say that
all people and all created things perished in it, in as far as the water rose
above all the highest mountains in the world. No living things survived
except a man and a woman, who remained in a box, and when the waters
subsided, the wind carried them to Huanaco (Tiahuanaco is meant),
which will be over 70 leagues from Cuzco, a little more or less. "
Betanzos neither mentions a deluge nor does he connect Manco Capac
with Tiahuanaco, and Cieza as well as Garcilasso are silent on both points.
Molina, according to Cobo, Historia, (Vol. Ill, p. 118) collected the
statements of old Indians, from times anterior to the conquest: "Y poco
despues (referring to the investigations by order of Toledo) en otra junta
general de los Indios viejos que habian alcanzado el reinado del Inca
GuajTia Capac, que hizo en la misma cuidad del Cuzco Cristóbal de
Molina, cura de la parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedibs del
Hospital de los naturales, por mandado del Obispo D : Sebastian de Lar-
taum, se averiguó lo mismo, resultando della una copiosa relación de los
ritos y fábulas que en su gentiUdad tenian los Indios perunaos. La cual
conforma en todo lo sustancial con la del licencidao Polo, con la que
se hizo por orden de Don Francisco Toledo, que ambas vinieron á mi
poder y parece haberlas seguido el padre Joseph de Acosta en lo que
escribió del gobierno de los Incas, y de sus idolatrias, en los libros V
y VI de su Historia de Indias. Últimamente, Garcilaso de la Vega,
en la primera parte que sacó á luz de la repubhca de los Incas, no se
aparta casi en nada délas sobredichas relaciones."
The report of Polo de Ondegardo exists in Manuscript at Lima, but
in Volume 17 of Documentos inéditos de Indias, under the headings of:
Relación de los Fundamentos acerca del notable daño qe resulta de no gitardar
á los Indios sus fueros, and DeTa Orden que los Yndios tenyan en diuidir
los tributos e distribuyrlos entre si, both without signature but from the
same date, June 26th, 1571, are probably from his pen also. On p. 9
he says that: "é avnque algunos quieren decir que vinieron de ottas
partes á poblar allí; pero desto no hace mucho al caso, porque dizen que
fuá antes del Diluvio é traen allá ciertas ymaginaciones, como cosa tan
antigua no ay para que parar en ello. " It will be observed that accord-
ing to the above, the oldest myths of the Indians refer to times anterior
to the deluge, hence the latter was probably interpolated after the con-
quest. It seems likely that, after forty years of contact during which
the church made strenuous efforts to inculcate into the mind of the
Indians, not only precepts, but cosmogony and history, from the Bible,
a part of these filtered into Indian tradition. If we eliminate the story
of the deluge and the incident of Manco Capac, Molina tells us nothing,
the substance of which is not already incorporated in the book of Betanzos.
The Jesuit Acosta, Historia, (Lib. I,'Cap. 25, p. 82) is concise, but
unusually discriminating for his time. He says: "Como quiera que sea,
dizen los Indios, que con aquel su diluuio, se ahogaron todos los hom-
bres, y cuentan, que de la gran laguna Titicaca, salió vn Viracocha, el qual
hizo assiento en Tiaguanaco, dónde se veen oy ruinas y pedaços, de
edificios antiguos, y muy estraños, y que de alli vinieron al Cuzco, y
assi tomó á multiplicarse el genero humano." Acosta came to Peru
in 1569, and was sent to Cuzco as "visitor" of the Jesuit College of that
city in 1571. He remained there until 1574, that is during the time of
Toledo and Molina. His statement about the deluge is worthy of atten-
tion: "Ay entre ellos comunmente gran noticia, y mucha plática del
diluuio, pero no se puede bié determinar, si el diluuio que estos refieren,
es el uniuersal, que cuenta la diuina Escritura, ó si fue alguno otro dilu-
uio, ó inundación particular, de las regiones en que elllos mora: mas dé
que en aquestas tierras, hombres expertos dizen, que se veen señales
claras, de auer auido alguna gran inundación. Yo mas me llego til pare-
cer, de los que sienten, que los rastros y señales que ay de diluuio, no
son del de Noe, sino de alguno otro particular,"—The "signs" to which
he alludes were fossils, moUusks, recognized at an early day as marine
shells. The Indian uses fossils of a striking form as .fetishes, and it may
be that explanations of these (by Spaniards, especially by priests) aa
evidences of a flood, also made an impression upon the Indian mind.
It is superfluous to mention here any of those authors who, like Go-
mara and Herrera, could not write from personal acquaintance with
South America. The Dominican Gregorio Garcia however, resided for
a number of years in Peru towards the end of the sixteenth century, and
it is not immaterial that he accepts Betanzos without reserve. Origen
de los Indies de el Nuevo Mundo e Indias Occidentales, (Edition of 1729,
Lib. V, Cap. VII, pp. 330 and 331). He copies him almost literally.
Leading Spanish writers from the seventeenth century appear, with
one exception, as expounders and expanders of Betanzos. The exception
is the Jesuit, Anello Oliva, who came to Peru from Naples in 1597, re.,
maining there the remainder of his life. 'He died at Lima in 1642. His
book. Historia del Peru y Varones insignes en Santidad de la Compañia
de Jesus, was concluded in 1631 and lately published at Lima. In it
there is a statement (p: 38): "Luego diuidió el Reino en quatro partes
que son las mismas en que el grar Huyustus antes que començara á reinar
su padre Manco Capac lo auia repartido y passó á las partes
de Tyyay" Vanaca por ver sus edificios que antiguamente llamaban
Chucara, cuya antigüedad nadie supo determinatla. Mas solo que
alli viuia el gran señor Huyustus que decian era Señor de todo el mundo. "
One of Oliva's chief informants was an Indian from Cochabamba (central
Bolivia)' bearing the Aymará name of Catari. The story does not
conflict with Betanzos, there is even a decided resemblance with the
performances of Viracocha at Tiahuanaco. But the name "Huyustus,"
if obtained from Indians, is neither Aymará nor Quichua.
The Quichua Indian, Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcam-
ayhua, wrote, early in the seventeenth century, a Reladon de Antigüe-
dades deste Reyno del Peru, published at Madrid in 1879 in a volume
entitled: Tres Relaciones de Antigüedades peruanas. He was "natural
de los pueblos de Hananguaygua y Huringuai-Guacanchi de Oícasuyo,
entre Canas y Canchis.de CoUasuyu," CoUasuyu having formerly been
1911.] ' The Ruins at Tiahuanaco. 259
mostly occupied by Aymará Indians, it is not unlikely that Salcamayhua
heard Aymará traditions. And folklore (he asserts) was Ms almost
exclusive source". "Digo que emos oydo siendo niño noticias antiquisi-
mos y las ystorias, barbarismos y fábulas del tiempo de las gentilidades,
que es como se sigue, que entre los naturales á las cosas de los tiempos
pasados siempre los suelen parlar. "
Salcamayhua says nothing of a deluge. Neither does he mention an
earliest period of obscurity. He begins with the world already created,
but when evil spirits roamed over the earth and showed themselves to
mankind. Then there appeared a bearded man, of middle height and with
long hair, wearing a long shirt. He is said to have been of more than
mature age, with grey hair, thin, and he carried a stick. This personage
he calls (I omit the portentous complete name) Tonapa or Tarapaca
but also Viracochan, &ca. He preached to the natives, reprimand-
ing them for their vicious habits; Salcamayhua therefore identifies him
with the Apostle Saint Thomas. After many wanderings among the
Aymarás and on the shores of Lake Titicaca, Tonapa came to Tiahuanaco
which was then inhabited; "en donde le bió un pueblo llamado Tiya-
guanaco, que en ella dizen que estaban la gente de aquel pueblo entendi-
endo en sus borracheras y bayles, adonde dicho Timapa, á la despedida,
lo han llegado, predicarles como solian hazer, el qual no fueron oydos;
y dizen que de puro enojo les dijo, alsando los ojos al cielo en la lengua
de aquella tierra. Y como se partió de aquel lugar, toda la gente ques-
tauan baylando se quedó hechas piedras, combertiendose, que hasta
el dia de oy se echa de ber. Remito á los que han pasado por alli. "From
Tiahuanaco he went to the Desaguadero and thence to the sea.
Betanzos does not mention the name Tunapa or Tonapa, but the
story told by Salcamayhua about Tiahuanaco is the Viracocha tale under
another name. Cieza, in mentioning Viracocha, also calls him Tuapaca.
Tonapa is, therefore, only another designation for the Viracocha of
Betanzos. We, ourselves, heard the story from a Quichua Indian of
Azangaro in Peru, who called Tonapa "Juan Rubio"; and also from Ay-
mará Indians of Sicasica in Bolivia. It is intimately connected wtih the
yet mysterious cross of Carabuco on the eastern shores of Lake Titicaca.
About the time when Salcamayhua composed his Relación, the tale
of Tonapa appeared in the book of the Augustine Fray Alonzo Ramos,
Historia del celebre y milagroso Santuario de la Ynsigne Ymagen de Nra
Sra de Copacabana. (Lima 1621.) (Cap. 27, 28, 29 and 30, Parte
primera.) Ramos does not mention Tiahuanaco. His information
may have come from several sources. In the first place from the Indians
of the western shores of Titicaca, where Ramos was stationed for a long
time at Copacavana; from Carabuco, where the mysterious cross had
been exhumed about forty years previous to the publication of his book,—
and from the investigations at Cuzco.
Subsequent writers of the Augustine order followed Ramos almost
literally in regard to the Island of Titicaca, but the ponderous chronicles
of Father Antonio de la Calancha contain considerable information on
Tiahuanaco. The first volume of the Coronica moralizada del Orden
de San Agvstin en el Perv, appeared in 1638: the second, Coronica moral-
izada de la Provincia del Perv del orden de San Avgvstin Nvestro Padre,
(very rare) in 1651.' Both were printed at Lima. What Calancha
claims to be Indian tradition about Tiahuanaco is contained in the first
volume: (Lib. II, Cap. X, p. 566). "Decian los Indios—Que aviendo
Dios criado el Mudo (que ellos llama Pachayachachic, i quiere decir, el
Maestro i Criador del mundo, i el Dios invisible) i en él los onbres le
fueron menospreciando, porque los unos adorauan rios, otros fuentes,
motes i peñascos, i los azian iguales á él en diuinidad; sentia mucho el
Dios Pachayachachio semejante delito, i les castigava con rayos esta
injuria. El castigo no enfrenava su iniquidad, i asi irritado del todo les
arrojó tan gran aguacero, i tan inmésa cantidad de agua, que aogó todos
los onbres, de los quales se escaparon algunos (no culpados) permitién-
dole. Dios, que se subiesen en altissimos árboles, en coronas de las encum-
brados montes, i se escondiesen en cuevas, i grutas de la tierra, de donde
los sacó, quando el llover avia cesado, i les dio orden que poblasen la
tierra, i fuesen dueños della, donde viviesen alegres i dichosos. Ellos
agradecidos á las cuevas, montes, árboles i escondrijos, los tenian en 'gra
veneración, i les començarô sus ijos á adorar, aziédo á cada uno ídolo
i guaca. E aqui el origen de tanta multitud de adoratorios i guacas; q
fue, el dezir q cada familia q á su progenitor anparó tal mote, árbol 6
cueva, enterrädose donde estava' enterrado su primer progenitor.
Bolvióse Su Dios & enojar, i convirtió á todos los rnaestros destos
adoratorios en piedras duras, como á endurecidos, á quien rayos de
fuego, ni grandes diluvios de agua avian enfrenado. Asta entonces no
avia el Pachayachachic criado al Sol, la Luna i las ostrellas, i fuélas á
criar al pueblo de Tiagunaco, i á la laguna Titicaca de Chuchito. El
Sol se fuá luego al Indio Mangocapac, i le proijó é izo. Rey, poniéndole
todas las insignias qué usaron los Ingas &ca. &ca."
This is in substance the story told by Betanzos with the addition of
the deluge and of Manco Capac. Calancha previously makes the follow-
ing remark: "el Indio Mancocapac primero Rey del Peru era natural
de Tiaguanaco 6 de algü poblezuelo conjunto á él, era de corazón valeroso
como veremos presto i al començar eu sefiorio se debió de valer de intro-
duzir á los Indios, que aquel que le libró en las aguas i repartió los Reynos
avia dado á sus antecesores el señorio destas tierras; porque si no se jun-
tan así las palabras de la tradición (dejado lo fabuloso de Tiaguanaco i
de la piedra de Tanbo) ni era posible entonces navegar tan inimierables
mares ni ir á fundar el primer pueblo á Tábo ni á Tiaguanaco. Este
nobre no lo tuvo el pueblo antes que tuviesen Reyes (here follows thé
well-known etymology of Tiahuanaco according to Garcilasso de la Vega).
. " Calancha objects to the Viracocha tradition on the ground
of the impossibility to cross seas and oceans, while it appears to him
perfectly plausible that Tunupa was the apostle, St. Thomas. He
makes him land somewhere in Brazil and thence, accompanied by a
disciple called Taapac, travel through Paraguay and BoUvia to Tia-
huanaco. "Pasó el santo Predicadora Tiahuanaco, Provincia del Collao,
que está al mediodia del Cuzco, donde yo é estado dos veces, muestra
aver sido gran población i tiene edificios de piedra con 'tanto primor
asentadas, que sin mezcla, ni ottó betún prometan perpetuidad. Aqui
dicen los Indios que apareció el primer ombre saliendo de la laguna, i
crió los dema? onbres, i izo la creación del sol i las Estrellas: repartió
el mundo entre quatro. " At the same time he suggests a significative
explanation. (Lib. I, Cap. XIV, p. 93).. "Fábula como clausula de
Papagayo, que cojiendo como media razón de uno, i un pedaço de otro
forma un disparate, oyero al primero que se multiplicó acá, que después
de echo todo el mundo, i criado Dios Sol, Luna i Estrellas, por pecados
vino el Diluvio que dejó el Mundo echo Laguna, i della salió su progenitor
á tierra i repartió el Mundo entre sus tres hijos i poniendo lo último al
principio formaron su disparate que tan asentado estuvo en estos Indios.
Aqui predicó el Decipulo santo, i solo se sabe que aviendoles predicado
nuestra Fé i sus vicios sucedió lo que dicen dos Autores alegando al que
lo escribe en estas palabras. En Tiaguanaco ay grandes antiguallas i
entre ellas muchas figuras de onbres i mugeres, dicen los Indios presentes,
que por grandes pecados que iziéron los de aquel tiempo, i porque aped-
rearon á un onbre que pasó por aquella Provincia, fueron convertidos
en aquellas Estatuas. "
By attributing the primary cause of the creation and deluge myths
to the Apostle, Saint Thomas, Calancha tacitly admits that they are of
Christian origin and subsequently incorporated in Indian lore. He also
alludes to the stone-figures of Tiahuanaco as having given rise to the
"myth of observation," that people were turned into stone at some re-
mote period. Still we must not overlook the fact that at the time of
Betanzos this taJe of pétrification was current among the Indians so that,
while possibly an observation myth, it originated prior to the conquest,
whereas the tale of the deluge is of post-Columbian introduction.
I close with the short statement of Cobo, Historia del Nuevo Mundo,
(Vol. IV, Cap. XIX, p. 65) "porque tenian por opinion los Indios del
Collao, que este pueblo estaba en medio del Mundo, y que del salieron
despues del Diluvio los que lo tomaron á poblar."
It results from the above : 1. That Tiahuanaco was built and settled
at such a remote period, that clear recollection of its builders is lost.
They may have been Aymara, but there is no evidence of it as yet.
2. That the first settlement of Tiahuanaco, stood in some relation
to the Island of Titicaca.
3. That the original traditions concerning Tiahuanaco are Aymara,
not Quichua, folk-lore. These conclusions are not intended as final!
They are a mere résumé of the material which I consider thus far pre-
sentable. Sources will come up that may modify them to a considerable
extent. Besides, there are inklings pointing at the existence of data
which would throw unexpected light upon aboriginal Indian tradition
of Peru. But the time has not come yet to determine whether these
indications rest on substantial foundations or not.
>* Ordenanzas del Peru. (Edition of 1752, Vol. I, Lib. II, Tit. IX,
Ordenanza VIII, folio 146.)
'* P:Ludovico Bertonio, Arte de la Lengita Aymará, (Reprint by Platz-
mann, 1879, Original from 1603, p. 10, "Al Letor"). "En quanto á la
primera destas tres cosas digo, que principalmente se enseña en esta arto
la lengua Lupaca, la qual no es inferior ala Pacasa, que entre todas las
lenguas Aymáricas tiene el primer lugar; y es mucho mas elegante, que
todas las demás, que arriua hemos nombrado. La razón desto puede
ser: porque ordinariamente hablan mejor la lengua materna loa que
están en los extremos,. . . . como están los Pacases y Lupacas en medio
de todas los Aymaraes. "
" This seems already to have been the case at the time of E. G. Squier,
Peru, (Chapter 3, pp. 302 and 303).
" It is needless to prove it. The fact is too well known. I would only
call attention to the observation of Bertonio, Vocabulario, (I, fol. 28)
"mas proprio es Hatha." The word "Ayllu" may be originally Quichua
gradually introduced among the Aymará by contact.
" Ordenanzas del Peru, (Vol. I, Lib. II, Tit. IX, fol. 145. Ordenanza
II). "Primeramente, porq entre los Indios se acostumbra que quando
la India de vn Ayllo, ó repartimiento se casa con Indio de otro reparti-
miento, ó Ayllo, y el marido se muere dexando hijos ó hijas los Caciques
Principales cuya era la India antes que se casase la compelen ábolver al re-
partimiento, y Ayllo adonde era antes, y llevar consigo los hijos que huvo
del marido. Ordeno, y mando, que á India de vn Repartimiento, par-
cialidad, y Ayllo que se casase con Indio de otro, dexen los hijos que en
ella huviere havido su marido en el repartimiento parcialidad, y Ayllo
donde su padre era tributario, porque alli lo han de ser ellos, y ella se
passe á su repartimiento, ó Ayllo, si sus Caziques, ó Principales la pidi-
eren, dexándola estar algún .tiempo con sus hijos hasta que el menor
dellos sea de edad de ocho años para arriba, porque no les haga falta
BU ausencia al tiempo antes." This Ordinance had in view only the
facilitation of tax-gathering, but it virtually broke up the rules of Indian
descent in many places though not everywhere, aa the following docu-
ment shows. Adjudicaciones de Indios en la Visita de Reducción general,
en Huaicho, November 8th, 1608, (MSS. pertaining to the collection of
Don Manuel Vicente Ballivian, La Paz). AU the Indian children were
adjudicated to the clans of their mothers and even to the villages if they
had not been bom at Huaicho.
'8 Libro de cassados que perteneze a este pueblo de Tiagtumaco comienza
a ocho de Henero de 1694 A', siendo Cura propio Fr. Gabriel de Barcetta
y Guillestegui. "Los cassados naturales deste d'" pue" se hallarán
puestos en süa dos parcia', Hananzaia (f. 3) Hurinzaia. " The custom,
of the principáis of the two divisions occupying distinct sides on cere-
monial occasions, is already described by Joan de Matienzo, Gobierno
del Peru con todas las cosas pertenecientes a el y a su historia, (MSS. Lenox,
no date, but after 1559 and before 1570, Cap. 6, folio 19). "Los de la
parcialidad de Anansaya se asientan ala mano izquierda en sus asientos
vajos que llaman Duos acada vno por su orden, é los de Vrinsaya ala
mano izquierda tras su Cazique Prinzipal y los de Anansaya a la mano
derecha tras su Curaca. . ."
" MSS, Ut supra,—Mazaya and Arazaya are called "parcialidades"
in 1710, and as such, plainly distinguished from the AUyu or clans.
In 1586 Tiahuanaco is stated to have had about 800 tributary Indians:
Reladon de la Provincia de los Pacajes, (In Vol. II of the Relaciones geog-
ráficas de Indias, p. 55). "Tiene ochocientos y tahtos Indios tributarios,
que solian estar en diez pueblos." The latter is interesting, since it
establishes that the Aymará who occupied the region at the time of the
conquest, lived as scattered as elsewhere on the BoUvian Puna. The
number of tributary Indians is given in 1596 (five years later) officially at
868. Reladon de los Indios tributarios &ca, {Documentos inéditos de
Indias, Vol. VI, p. 50.)
*» I give the names of the clans of Tiahuanaco as they appear. The
orthography varies in some cases and I cannot guarantee its correctness.
Chambi (also Champi and Chanbi), Aparo (also Aparu), Lupi, ColUri,
Achaca, Chiu, Calaoca, GuancoUa (Achaca, Calacea and GuancoUa are
said to pertain to Hurinzaia), Guaraya, Caasa, (also Casa and Cassa),
Tarqui, Achuta, and Cuipa. Chambi is ascribed to Arazaia.
" Peru, (p. 304). He calls it the Chuñu-feast. There is no such
celebration. What Mr. Squier saw was simply the dances at Corpus
Christi which are indeed pre-Columbian in character, but tolerated by
the church with certain restrictions.
" "Sico" is the name of the flute played by the Sicuri, hence the name.
Bertonio, Vocabulario, (II, folio 316).
" Vocabulario, (II, Folio 288). "Quena Quena: Cosa muy agugerada. "
(f. 289) "Qena Quena PincoUo. Flauta de caña."
** The viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo already restricted the Indian
festivities. Ordenanzas del Peru, (Lib. II, Tit. IX, Ord. IX, fol. 146).
"Iten, mando, que los Indios é Indias comunes, ni Caziques, ni prin-
cipales no hagen taquies, ni borracheras; y si algunos bayles quisieren
hazer sea de dia,.-y en lugares, y fiestas públicas con licencia del Correg-
idor, y Sacerdote, á quien se encarga se la den con moderación y con
apercibimiento, que haciéndolo de otra manera, serán castigados."
The Constituciones synodales del Arçobispado de los Reyes, en el Peru
(1613, reprint from 1722, Cap. VI, fol. 7) ordained: "Y para que con el
favor de Nuestro Señor se quiten las ocasiones que por experiencia se
han visto, que lo han sido para las dichas Ydolatrias, y el Demonio no
prosiga en sus engaños, estarán advertidos de no consentir los vayles,
cantares, ó taquies antiguos, en lengua materna ni General, y harán
que se consuman los instrumentos que para ellos tienan, como son los
tamborinos, cabeças de venados, antaras, y plumeria, y los demás que
se hallaren, dexando solamente los atambores de que vsan en las danças
de la fiesta del Corpos Christi, y de otros sanctos y prohibarán las borra-
cheras castigando álos que hallaren culpados en ellas, . . " A very
stringent prohibition of the sale of new wine to Indians is contained in
the Constituciones synodales of 1656, (Reprint from 1722, fol. 51, Cap. 7).
"Iten, por el grave y conocido daño o resulta á los Indios de llevarles
algunos Curas, y algunos Corregidores vino nuevo á los pueblos de los
dichos Indios, de darles fiada la botija de vino (que quando mucho á
costado á veinte reales) por diez, ó doze pessos, de que á resultado el
acabamiento, y diminución de los Indies, por ser como es, cosa muy cierta
que los mas mueren de bever dicho vino y por fomentar las borracheras
con su ocasión."
The primitive Indian dances, that is the three principal ones, were
easily made to coincide with the principal feasts of the church, as the
Indians had no fixed days for them. In the Carta partoral de Exortadon
é Instrucción contra las Idolatrías de los Indios del Arçobispado de Lima,
(Lima 1649, fol. 43) there is the following statement by the author.
Archbishop Villagomez: "Acabadas las confessiones en las fiestas
solemnes, que suelen ser tres cada Son; la principal cerca del corpus, ó
en ella misma que llaman Oncoymita, que es quanda aparecen las seite
cabrillas, que llaman Oncoy, las quales adoran porque no se les sequen
los maizes; la otra es al principio de las aguas por Nauidad, ó poco
después; y esta suele ser al trueno, y al rayo, porque embië Uuuias;
otra suele ser qvando cogen el maiz, que llaman Ayrihuamita porque
baylan el Ayrihua." These three Indian festivals so nearly coincide
with Corpus Christi, Christmas, and Easter, that they could be per-
formed under cover of the church celebration. This was soon discovered
by the clergy. I refer, among others, to the following passage of the
Exortadon e Instrucción, (folio 57). "15.—Si en las fiestas del Corpus
Christia, ó en otras fiestas de la Iglesia, fingiendo los Indios que hace
fiestas de christianos, an adorado, ó adoran occultamente á sus ídolos,
ó an hecho ó hacen otros ritos."
*' This fact is established by nearly all the sources of older date.
*' Pedro Piazarro, Relación del descubrimiento y conquista de los reinos
del Peru &ca, (In Documentos par la Historia de España, Vol. 5, p. 278).
"Emborrachábanse muy á menudo, y estando borrachos todo lo que
el demonio les traia á la voluntad hacian." Also (p. 347). There is at
this day, a dance, called Mimula, which is prohibited on account of
its obscenity. We saw it twice, though only at night and in dark comers
of the square or street.
•' "Irpa" means to conduct. Our information in regard to the nature
of the oflBce is as yet contradictory and insuflScient.
" It is easy to notice, that this word is post-Columbian, the second part
of it being Spanish.
" Cieza, Segunda Parte de la Crónica, (Cap. VII, p. 26).
" Bertonio, Vocabulario, (II, f. 101) translates Lari Lari by "wild
people. "
" Hinchu is ear in Ajamará. Kanu means dirty.
" P. Pablo Joseph de Arriaga, S. J.—Extirpación de h. Ydolatria del
Pirv. Lima 1621, (p. 3). The first investigation of an official charac-
ter at Tiahuanaco was carried on about 1621 by Bartolomé de Dueñas.
1911.] . The Ruins at Tiahuanaco. 265
Arriaga, Extirpación de la Ydolatria, (Cap. IX, p. 53) "y mucho mas
escribe de Tiahuanaco el Visitador Bart; de Dueñas q dexo, por no ser
largo."
" Besides abundant documentary evidence there is the testimony of
the graves themselves, where human remains are always accompanied
by vessels for food and drink.
" This conception of Saint James (Santiago) as god of lightning,
called forth special edicts from the higher clergy. It is mentioned in
Exortadon e Instrucción (fol. 46). "De qualaquier^ manera que sea,
vsurpan con grande superstición el nombre de Santiago: y assi entre las
demás constituciones que déxan los visitadores acabada la visita, es
vná, que nadie se llame Santiago, sino Diego." (ídem. Edicto, i. 57).
"26—Si an tenido, o tienen mucho tiempo de por bautiçar á sus hijos
siêdo ya grandes, ó silos q ya están bautizados se an llamado, ó llama
con los nombres de sus huacas, ó con el del trueno, llamándose Curi, ó
con el del rayo, llamándose Libiac, ó Santiago." This is taken in turn
. from Arriaga. Extirpación, &ca. (Cap. VI, p. 33). He suggests the
same explanation attempted in the text.
'^Exortadon (fol. 47). "En hacer sus casas tienen, como en todas
las demás cosas, muchas supersticiones, combidando de ordinario á los
de su ayllo. Rocian con chicha los cimientos, y sacrificándola para que
no se caygan las paredes: y después de hecha la casa, también la asperjan
con la misma chicha." Ramos, Historia (Edition of 1870, I, p. 41).
"Era costumbre mui común entre estas jentes el juntar á los agoreros,
para que después de haber tomado su chicha, coca y otras necedades
designasen el lugar y la figura de la casa ó choza que pensaban hacer.
Miraban al ayre, escuchaban pájaros, como aruspices, invocaban á sus
lares ó al demonio, con cantares tristes, al son de tamboriles destem-
plados; y pronosticando el bueno ó mal suceso empezaban la construcción,
poniendo & veces coca mascada en el cimiento, y sus asperjos de chicha.
Concluida la obra, en que solian ayudarse, la festejaban con bailes, y
convites conforme á sus alcances. . . Aún ahora no han acabado de
perder esas abusiones al fabricar sus casitas. " This was in 1621 and at
Çopacavana.

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218 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.

THE RUINS AT TIAHUANACO.

I cannot pretend to offer anything approximately

tiles" lifted them up by mere bodily strength, bruising

with members of their own clan. .We subsequently

Between the description of Cieza and that of Cobo, in point of date,

Manco-capac, hijo de Guayna-capac, cuyas ruinas se ven hoy; y era

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