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511
XVIII. I nte?'11cdional Cong1·ess of Ame1·icnnists.
Among the songs there are sorne that may be of a very early date. For instance,
there are sorne verses of ferocious atrocity threatening the traitor :-
.Aucap wmanuan upyason,
qwi1·onta ¡¿alca?·iswt,
tullunua:n pincullusun,
ca1·anpi tinyacusun,
taquecusun.
The traitor's skull, we shall drink out of it,
His teeth we shall wear as a necklace,
From his bones we shall make flutes,
Of his skin we shall make a drum,
Then we shall dance.
Other songs are evidently of a much more recent origin. There is even a
hat~tn tc~qui
that can have no other autl;1.0r than Huaman Poma himself. In many cases it is
rather difficult to make out whether certain passages follow a native tradition,
though an incorrect and wrong tradition, or whether they possess no authority, and
are to be taken only as the author's own explanations and suggestions.
The pictures which accompany the text are an integral part of the work of
Huaman Poma. They are in no way to be considered as specimens of genuine
Peruvian art; they are executecl in a tyle that Huaman Poma had evidently
formed from pattern of Christian ecclesiastical art already widely spread over
Peru by pictures and images. These drawings are always neatly executed, never
hasty sketches, and as a rule, witbout afforcling much evidence of artistic training,
they show great skill, and especially a remarkable talent for arranging tbe figures.
Tbere are whole sets of pages where the pictures, page for page, are _9f nmcb more
importance than the accompanying text.
II.
Huaman Poma commences hi.s account of tbe history of Pern with the creation
of the world. :Milli.ons of years after its creation, be says, carne the deluge. From
the deluge to his own time-in a passage of hi.s work evidently wTitten in 1613-
he reckons 6,613 years. The first 5,300 years after the deluge be, or tbe tradition
he follows, distributes among four generations.
The first generation is that of tbe
H11c~Ti
Hwimcocha mna.
Their time was
the age when the gods were living on eartb, tbe different Huiracochas who in tbe
local traditions were spoken of as different persons eacb belonging to a certain
place. Inventions for refinement of life were not yet made, except the first
primitive implement for tillage, the
taclla,
or
chaqui taclla,
as it is called now-a-days.
Clothing consisted of leaves of trees stitcbed together with straw.
It
was a
generation of absolule holiness, a life without death and without exigencies. To
this generation the mythic ancestor, the
pacarúnoc,
of tbe Yarovillca family
belonged.
The generation of the second age, the
H1¿a1·i
·runa,
may be called tbat of the
Autochtbones, considered as tbe very first inhabitants of certain regions. Tbey
were believed to have been giants, clothed in skins, and to have constructed
mansions of stone in the sbape of oven , called
pucullu.
By Arriaga these ancient
con tructions are mentioned amongst the objects still held in veneralion by the
ludian of his time, as
huati,
that is, indigenous. Huaman Poma shows us the