Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/37

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MONUMENTS OF ANCIENT PERU.
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fathers, in the weaving of lliellas, anacos and chuces, and in the manufacture of topos, huaqueros, &c.[1]

Of their ancient writing, some traces are to be found among the shepherds, who make use of quipos[2] to reckon the number, increase, or diminution of their flocks, not forgetting the day or hour on which a sheep died, a lamb was ewed, or one of the flock stolen. The language they employed when they invoked the protection of the deity, may serve to give an idea of their oratory. Of their poetry and music many records still exist. The modern Indians, who are excessively fond of dancing, have not forgotten the wind instruments, and the immense variety of quick and lively airs which were the delight of their ancestors. Their tradition has handed down a few idyls and odes, and many elegies, which are revived and augmented, as well by the Arabicus[3] as by the Spaniards,

by

  1. The lliella is a very fine square covering, adorned with much labour, which serves the Indians as a mantle. The anaco also forms a part of their dress, but is much larger. The chuce is a kind of carpet. The topo is a pin of gold, silver, or other metal, with a large solid head, eitiier circular or square, on which various figures are sculptured. Its use is to fasten the lliella at the breast, and to ornament it. The huaquero is a small earthen vessel.
  2. The Peruvian tracts of Madame Grasigny induced an Italian nobleman, a member of the Academy of La Crusca, and a dutchess of the same nation, to write a large volume in quarto, entitled An Apology for the Quipos. After introducing into this work what Garcilaso has written on the subject, the authors describe with so much confidence the grammar and dictionary of the Quipos, and, in short, whatever relates to Quipographia, that we should have fancied we had fallen in with some Quipo-Camayu (secretary) of the Yncas, if, unfortunately, all the conjectures had not been utterly false.
  3. Arabicus. Name of the Peruvian poets, from which is derived that of the yaravies, bestowed on their elegiac songs. The style, effect, and peculiar music of