Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of PeruBingham, Hiram
History
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru
Bingham, Hiram
Incas; Peru -- Antiquities; Peru -- Description and travel
The Peruvian highlanders whom we met by the roadside were different
in feature, attitude, and clothing from those of the Titicaca Basin
or even of Santa Rosa, which is not far away. They were typical
Quichuas--peaceful agriculturists--usually spinning wool on the
little hand spindles which have been used in the Andes from time
immemorial. Their huts are built of adobe, the roofs thatched with
coarse grass.
The Quichuas are brown in color. Their hair is straight and black. Gray
hair is seldom seen. It is the custom among the men in certain
localities to wear their hair long and braided. Beards are sparse or
lacking. Bald heads are very rare. Teeth seem to be more enduring
than with us. Throughout the Andes the frequency of well-preserved
teeth was everywhere noteworthy except on sugar plantations, where
there is opportunity to indulge freely in crude brown sugar nibbled
from cakes or mixed with parched corn and eaten as a travel ration.
The Quichua face is broad and short. Its breadth is nearly the same
as the Eskimo. Freckles are not common and appear to be limited to
face and arms, in the few cases in which they were observed. On the
other hand, a large proportion of the Indians are pock-marked and
show the effects of living in a country which is "free from medical
tyranny." There is no compulsory vaccination.
One hardly ever sees a fat Quichua. It is difficult to tell whether
this is a racial characteristic or due rather to the lack of
fat-producing foods in their diet. Although the Peruvian highlander
has made the best use he could of the llama, he was never able to
develop its slender legs and weak back sufficiently to use it for
loads weighing more than eighty or a hundred pounds. Consequently, for
the carrying of really heavy burdens he had to depend on himself. As
a result, it is not surprising to learn from Dr. Ferris that while
his arms are poorly developed, his shoulders are broader, his back
muscles stronger, and the calves of his legs larger and more powerful
than those of almost any other race.
The Quichuas are fond of shaking hands. When a visiting Indian
joins a group he nearly always goes through the gentle ceremony with
each person in turn. I do not know whether this was introduced by
the Spaniards or comes down from prehistoric times. In any event,
this handshaking in no way resembles the hearty clasp familiar to
undergraduates at the beginning of the college year. As a matter of
fact the Quichua handshake is extremely fishy and lacks cordiality. In
testing the hand grip of the Quichuas by a dynamometer our surgeons
found that the muscles of the forearm were poorly developed in the
Quichua and the maximum grip was weak in both sexes, the average
for the man being only about half of that found among American white
adults of sedentary habits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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