Ancient civilizations of the Andes / by Philip Ainsworth Means.

  • Means, Philip Ainsworth, 1892-1944.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ancient civilizations of the Andes / by Philip Ainsworth Means. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    rial gathered from native informants by the Augustinian his¬ torian, Father Antonio de la Calancha, who presents it to us in chapters I and II of book III of his Coronica Moralizada (1638). Owing to the fact that the good monk’s literary style was prolix and obscure to an amazing degree, I present his material here in abstract rather than in direct quotation. Book III, chapter I, is entitled Concerning the celebrated and miraculous Sanctuary of the Most Holy Virgin of Guada¬ lupe in the Valley of Pacasmayo.” There are described the to¬ pography, situation and particulars of its location, and the names of its first lords, from whom the name of their valleys originated. The gist of the chapter is as follows: God created, between the slopes of the cold mountains and the shores of an ever-angry sea, a valley which is always deli¬ cious to its inhabitants because of the contrast which it affords to the arid wastes around it. The early lords of this valley and of others near it were called Chimo, a term of the same sort as Pharaoh in Egypt. The Chimo had his palace and seat in what is now the city of Trujillo, so named by the Con¬ queror, Pizarro, in honor of his birthplace, albeit the Indians still call the locality “valleys of the Chimo.”4 The wife of the first Chimo was named Chacma, a name which is found pre¬ served, although somewhat altered, in that of the adjacent Valley of Chicama. The Valley of Pacasmayo, which the Spaniards called Gua¬ dalupe, lay farther north than the original domain of Chimo and Chacma.5 The Chimo determined to conquer it. Accord¬ ingly, he sent a very brave captain of his, chosen for his skill from among his most warlike men, into that valley. After much difficult fighting the victory rested with the captain, and twelve leagues of territory were thereby added to the realm of his master, the Chimo. The name of the Captain was Pacatnamu which, in the language of those people, means Common Father or Father of All. After his victory, the Chimo made him governor of the territory which he had conquered and, because he dealt gently with the conquered without in¬ juring the conquerors, the valley was named Pacatnamu in