Book contents
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Dedication
- PREFACE TO THE READER
- NOTES TOUCHING THE GENERAL LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS OF PERU
- THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- SECOND BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- CHAPTER I OF THE IDOLATRY OF THE SECOND AGE, AND OF ITS ORIGIN
- CHAPTER II THE YNCAS SOUGHT THE TRUE GOD OUR LORD
- CHAPTER III THE YNCAS KEPT A IN A SACRED PLACE
- CHAPTER IV OF MANY GODS IMPROPERLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE INDIANS BY THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER V OF MANY OTHER MEANINGS OF THE WORD HUACA
- CHAPTER VI WHAT AN AUTHOR SAYS CONCERNING THEIR GODS
- CHAPTER VII THEY KNEW OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION
- CHAPTER VIII OF THE THINGS THAT THEY SACRIFICED TO THE SUN
- CHAPTER IX OF THE PRIESTS, RITES, AND CEREMONIES, AND OF THE LAWS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIRST YNCA
- CHAPTER X THE AUTHOR COLLATES HIS OWN STATEMENTS WITH THOSE OF THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER XI THEY DIVIDED THE EMPIRE INTO FOUR DISTRICTS, AND REGISTERED THEIR VASSALS
- CHAPTER XII TWO DUTIES WHICH THE DECURIONS PERFORMED
- CHAPTER XIII CONCERNING CERTAIN LAWS THAT THE YNCAS INSTITUTED IN THEIR GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER XIV THE DECURIONS GAVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS
- CHAPTER XV THE INDIANS DENY THAT AN YNCA OF THE BLOOD ROYAL HAS EVER COMMITTED ANY CRIME WHATEVER
- CHAPTER XVI THE LIFE AND ACTS OF SINCHI ROCA THE SECOND KING OF THE YNCA DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XVII LLOQUE YUPANQUI, THIRD KING, AND THE MEANING OF HIS NAME
- CHAPTER XVIII TWO CONQUESTS MADE BY THE YNCA LLOQUE YUPANQUI
- CHAPTER XIX THE CONQUESTS OF HATUN-COLLA, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE COLLAS
- CHAPTER XX THE GREAT PROVINCE OF CHUCUITU IS REDUCED, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER PROVINCES
- CHAPTER XXI THE SCIENCES WHICH THE YNCAS HAD ACQUIRED: AND FIRST OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XXII THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MEASUREMENT OF THE YEAR, AND THE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES
- CHAPTER XXIII THEY OBSERVED THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN, AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THOSE OF THE MOON OCCURRED
- CHAPTER XXIV THE MEDICINES THEY USED, AND THEIR MANNER OF EFFECTING CURES
- CHAPTER XXV OF THE MEDICINAL HERBS THEY USED
- CHAPTER XXVI OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE TOUCHING GEOMETRY, ARITHMETIC, AND MUSIC
- CHAPTER XXVII THE POETRY OF THE YNCAS AMAUTAS, WHO ARE PHILOSOPHERS, AND HARAVICUS OR POETS
- CHAPTER XXVIII OF THE FEW INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE INDIANS USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
- THIRD BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- FOURTH BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- INDEX
CHAPTER XXVIII - OF THE FEW INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE INDIANS USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Dedication
- PREFACE TO THE READER
- NOTES TOUCHING THE GENERAL LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS OF PERU
- THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- SECOND BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- CHAPTER I OF THE IDOLATRY OF THE SECOND AGE, AND OF ITS ORIGIN
- CHAPTER II THE YNCAS SOUGHT THE TRUE GOD OUR LORD
- CHAPTER III THE YNCAS KEPT A IN A SACRED PLACE
- CHAPTER IV OF MANY GODS IMPROPERLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE INDIANS BY THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER V OF MANY OTHER MEANINGS OF THE WORD HUACA
- CHAPTER VI WHAT AN AUTHOR SAYS CONCERNING THEIR GODS
- CHAPTER VII THEY KNEW OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION
- CHAPTER VIII OF THE THINGS THAT THEY SACRIFICED TO THE SUN
- CHAPTER IX OF THE PRIESTS, RITES, AND CEREMONIES, AND OF THE LAWS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIRST YNCA
- CHAPTER X THE AUTHOR COLLATES HIS OWN STATEMENTS WITH THOSE OF THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER XI THEY DIVIDED THE EMPIRE INTO FOUR DISTRICTS, AND REGISTERED THEIR VASSALS
- CHAPTER XII TWO DUTIES WHICH THE DECURIONS PERFORMED
- CHAPTER XIII CONCERNING CERTAIN LAWS THAT THE YNCAS INSTITUTED IN THEIR GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER XIV THE DECURIONS GAVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS
- CHAPTER XV THE INDIANS DENY THAT AN YNCA OF THE BLOOD ROYAL HAS EVER COMMITTED ANY CRIME WHATEVER
- CHAPTER XVI THE LIFE AND ACTS OF SINCHI ROCA THE SECOND KING OF THE YNCA DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XVII LLOQUE YUPANQUI, THIRD KING, AND THE MEANING OF HIS NAME
- CHAPTER XVIII TWO CONQUESTS MADE BY THE YNCA LLOQUE YUPANQUI
- CHAPTER XIX THE CONQUESTS OF HATUN-COLLA, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE COLLAS
- CHAPTER XX THE GREAT PROVINCE OF CHUCUITU IS REDUCED, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER PROVINCES
- CHAPTER XXI THE SCIENCES WHICH THE YNCAS HAD ACQUIRED: AND FIRST OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XXII THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MEASUREMENT OF THE YEAR, AND THE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES
- CHAPTER XXIII THEY OBSERVED THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN, AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THOSE OF THE MOON OCCURRED
- CHAPTER XXIV THE MEDICINES THEY USED, AND THEIR MANNER OF EFFECTING CURES
- CHAPTER XXV OF THE MEDICINAL HERBS THEY USED
- CHAPTER XXVI OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE TOUCHING GEOMETRY, ARITHMETIC, AND MUSIC
- CHAPTER XXVII THE POETRY OF THE YNCAS AMAUTAS, WHO ARE PHILOSOPHERS, AND HARAVICUS OR POETS
- CHAPTER XXVIII OF THE FEW INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE INDIANS USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
- THIRD BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- FOURTH BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- INDEX
Summary
Now that we have given an account of the advances that the philosophers and poets of that heathen time had made in the sciences, it will be well to show how unskilful their mechanics were in their crafts, that it may be seen how much inconvenience and misery these people had to endure. To begin with the workers in metals: although they were so numerous, and so constantly exercising their calling, they knew not how to make an anvil, either of iron or of anything else, and they could not extract iron, though there were mines of that metal in their land. In their language they call iron quillay. They used certain very hard stones, of a colour between green and yellow, instead of anvils. They flattened and smoothed one against the other, and held them in great estimation because they were very rare. Nor could they make hammers with wooden handles. But they worked with certain instruments made of copper and brass mixed together. These tools were of the shape of dice with the corners rounded off. Some are large, so that the hand can just clasp them, others middling sized, others small, and others lengthened out to hammer on a concave. They hold these hammers in their hands to strike with, as if they were pebbles. They had no files nor graving tools, nor had they invented the art of making bellows for blast furnaces.
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- First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas , pp. 201 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1869