1000090341

::!-

of lhe.very few

fragm.

en(s from which wc can glean some sliglil know–

ledge of jthe mysterious civilized nali.on whicl1 occupied the coasl of

Pern, befare the Ynca conqttesi.-The

sources of information respecting

the civilized race of the Peruvian coast are very scanty, and consc–

quently very precious (r). Wc have rhe silent tesrimony of the granel

ruins of Chimu near Truxillo, and in other coast valleys, of the great

mounds, and of the works of irrigation. There is a grammar and vo–

cabulary of their language, written by Fernando de la Carnera in 1644;

and the Lord's Prayer in "Mochica", one of their dialects, preserved

by Bishop Ore, and published at Naples in

r6o2.

Cieza de León tra–

velled through the .coast vall ys in the early ·days of the Spanish conquest,

ancl gave an interesting account of what he saw, to which Gatícilaso de

la Vega has added some additional particulars. Balboa relates the le–

gend of the coast Indians of Lambayeque respccting thei r first arrival

by sea : and the curious report of An·iaga on the destruction of idols

in thc province of Yauyos and Conchucos, has some bearing on the

people of tthe coast. But here again great care must be taken to elimi–

nate all Ynca words and ideas, before use can be made of the repon

in a.n inquiry as to the Yuncas of the sea bord. A still more remarkabl e

report was made by an Augustin fri ar, in 1555, on the idolatry and

superstitions of the province of Huamachuco, which, like Conchucos,

Yauyos and H uarochiri, overhangs the coast valleys.

11 is from lhis

sean/y materi<Jls tlwt ,some knowledge can be acquired, a_fler careful

slndy, of lhe civilized roce

011

lhe coasl, and o_f lhe extcn l lo which

bra.nches from i.l had spreod over .the motwtaino1.s districls o_f lhe

ma–

rilime cordillera. Th e most curious of lh ese sources of i.nformalion is,

[ think, the •w-rra.tive of Father Avila, wh-ich has uever been printed in

Spa.nish anda. t·ransla.tion of which ·is now prinled for lhe fi.rst lime."

Teniendo en ouenta la sin igual importancia de Francisco de Av'i•la

pa ra la Historia del antiguo Perú. y especialmente su religión y mitolo–

gía, es inexplicaJble el hecho de que la mayor parte de su obra se con–

serve sin publicar en la Sala de Manuscritos de la Biblioteca Nacional

de Madrid, ya que tanwoco Markham publicó más que a•lo-unos frag–

mentos. Los siete capítulos aparecidos en traJducción inglesa y más tarde

en español, representan sólo una parte de la obra total , que comprende

(t)

No cita Markham la importante "Relación

declaración del.. valle de Chin–

cha" de Cristóbal de Castro y Diego de Ortega Morejón, que ha sido reeditada por

Wilhelm Petersen

señalando

las

fechas de interés etnográfico

para

el conocimiento de

las culturas precolombinas

costa

peruana (Studien

zur

Kulturkunde

TJI, Stutt–

gart,

1936).