Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/355

 PERU 341 in charge of the departments of the interior, foreign affairs, finance and commerce, justice, and war and the navy. The judiciary com- prises a supreme court, and superior and lower courts ; and the various municipalities are de- centralized. The general officers of the army are one grand marshal, four generals of divi- sion, and 26 generals of brigade. There are eight battalions of infantry, with 270 officers and 5,600 men, exclusive of about 5,500 gen- darmes; three regiments of cavalry, with 120 officers and 1,200 men ; and two regiments and one squadron of artillery, with 100 officers and 1,000 men ; total strength, 8,290. The artillery in 1873 had 56 pieces of cannon, 36 of which were rifled. The navy consists of six iron- clads, mounting 38 guns, and six other steamers with an armament of 56 guns; total, 94 guns. These vessels were for the most part built in London. The national revenue is mainly de- rived from the custom house, the sale of guano, and miscellaneous receipts, such as licenses. The constitution provides for security of per- son, life, property, domicile, and correspon- dence; for individual liberty, and liberty of assemblage (without arms), conscience, and industry ; free trade, free teaching, and a free press; and absolute equality before the law. The revenue in 1873 was $23,499,653, and the expenditures were $17,380,406. The foreign debt is made up as follows : loans of 1860-'64, at 4J- per cent., 1,300,000 ; consolidated 5 per cent, loan of 1865, 10,000,000 ; railway 6 per cent, of 1870, 11,920,000 ; railway 5 per cent, of 1872, 15,000,000 ; total, 38,220,000, or $196,100,000. The 6 per cent, loan of 1870 was issued at the price of 82, and the 5 per cent, loan of 1872 at 72. The loan of 1872 was intended to be for the nominal amount of 36,800,000, but provisionally there was issued (in July, 1872) only 15,000,000. All these loans, secured by the guano deposits and other resources of the country, are payable in 20 years by means of sinking funds. The pub- lic institutions of Peru, including the palace of industry and several benevolent institutions, are mainly in the capital. The postal service is thoroughly organized. There are in Lima nine banks, five insurance establishments, mostly branches of British companies, and two agri- cultural associations. The aggregate capital of these institutions is estimated at $190,000,- 000. In no country of Spanish America has public instruction been the object of more sed- ulous care than in Peru. The number of pu- pils is set down at 100,000 in the various edu- cational establishments of the republic, com- prising primary and grammar schools for both sexes, distributed through the various towns and villages, and in the capital normal schools, schools of arts and trades, agriculture, com- merce, mines, fine arts, and a naval and mili- tary school ; besides which there are the six uni- versities of Lima (considered the first in South America), Arequipa, Puno, Ouzco, Ayacucho, and Trujillo. Education is compulsory and gra- tuitous. The religion of the state is the Roman Catholic, the public exercise of no other being lawful. The earliest history of Peru is that of the incas, whose empire at the height of their power extended from Quito to the Rio Maule in Chili, and eastward to the eastern slope of the Andes, and southward as far as Tucuman. In this region there were nations of different language and origin gradually brought under the inca sway. The incas them- selves seem to have sprung from a tribe of the Quichuas, who were widely scattered, nearly through the whole length of the empire, divi- ded by tribes of other families, and who still form the mass of the Peruvian population. By a careful census in 1796 they were estima- ted at 934,000. Their language, often called that of the incas, was harmonious and became highly cultivated. It was adapted to poetry, and dramas, love songs, and poems were com- posed i it before and after the Spanish con- quest, and are still popular. That entitled 01- lantay has been published, and gives a favora- ble idea of their culture. In early times the haravecs or bards and amantas or literati pre- served their annals and literature by means of quipus or knotted cords. The coast was occupied by the Yuncas, whose capital was at Gran Chimu, near Trujillo, and who had a famous temple at Pachacamac, and an ora- cle at Rimac. Remains of this people still exist at Moche and Eten, retaining their an- cient language, which is entirely distinct from the Quichua. The Aymaras extended from the western shore of Lake Titicaca down into Bolivia, with Quichua tribes around them. They still hold their own, a sombre peo- ple, with disproportionate trunks, and rather undersized. Their language differs in many terms from the Quichua, but the great majority of words are the same and the grammatical structure is identical. East of Lake Titicaca were the Puquinas, who seem to have been of the Aymara stock, and the still wilder Uros, living on rafts in the lake. Tiahuanaco, near Lake Titicaca, has rude stone dolmens and rude pillars like Stonehenge, and later structures evincing a highly advanced state, consisting of monolithic gateways covered with sculptures, differing entirely from all other monuments in Peru, whether Aymara, Inca, or Yunca. Man- co Capac, the first inca, appeared according to the traditions, with his sister Mama Oello, on Titicaca island, a spot ever after held holy. These two, claiming to be children of the sun, were regarded as deities. Manco Capac pro- ceeded northward, and, founding Cuzco at the spot where his golden staff sank into the ground, introduced civilization and the arts. A powerful kingdom arose, and gradually ab- sorbed the neighboring tribes. Capac Yupan- qui, the fifth inca, reduced the Aymaras, and four years afterward the Quichuas. His suc- cessor conquered the Chancas or Antis, who had forced their way into his territory. The Chincha or Yunca monarch of Chimu fought