Note 41 — THE PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA: AND THE FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN, FROM THE CREST OF THE ANDES.

p. 267.—“On the ridge of the Chain of the Andes or Antis.”

The Inca Garcilaso, who was well acquainted with the language of his country and was fond of dwelling on etymologies, always calls the Chain of the Andes las Montañas de los Antis. He says positively, that the great Mountain chain east of Cuzco derived its name from the tribe of the Antis, and the Province of Anti which is to the east of the Capital of the Incas. The Quaternary division of the Peruvian Empire according to the four quarters of the Heavens, reckoned from Cuzco, borrowed its terminology not from the very circumstantial words taken which signify East, West, North, and South in the Quichua language (intip lluscinanpata, intip yaucunanpata, intip chaututa chayananpata, intip chaupunchau chayananpata); but from the names of the Provinces and of the tribes or races, (Provincias llamadas Anti, Cunti, Chincha y Colla), which are east, west, north, and south of the Centre of the Empire (the city of Cuzco). The four parts of the Inca-theocracy are called accordingly Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu, Chinchasuyu, and Collasuyu. The word suyu signifies “strip,” and also “part.” Notwithstanding the great distance, Quito belonged to Chinchasuyu; and in proportion as by their religious wars the Incas extended still more widely the prevalence of their faith, their language, and their absolute form of government, these Suyus also acquired larger and unequally increased dimensions. Thus the names of provinces came to be used to express the different quarters of the heavens; “Nombrar aquellos Partidos era lo mismo,” says Garcilaso, “que decir al Oriente, ó al Poniente.” The Snow Chain of the Antis was thus looked upon as an East chain. “La Provincia Anti da nombre á las Montañas de los Antis. Llamaron la parte á del Oriente Antisuyu, por la qual tambien llaman Anti á toda aquella gran Cordillera de Sierra Nevada que pasa al Oriente del Peru, por dar á entender, que está al Oriente.” (Commentarios Reales, P. I. p. 47 and 122.) Later writers have tried to deduce the name of the Chain of the Andes from “anta,” which signifies “copper” in the Quichua language. This metal was indeed of the greatest importance to a nation whose tools and cutting instruments were made not of iron but of copper mixed with tin; but the name of the “Copper Mountains” can hardly have been extended to so great a chain; and besides, as Professor Buschmann very justly remarks, the word anta retains its terminal a when making part of a compound word: anta, cobre, y antamarca Provincia de Cobre. Moreover, the form and composition of words in the ancient Peruvian language are so simple that there can be no question of the passage of an a into an i; and thus “anta” (copper) and “Anti or Ante” (meaning as dictionaries of the country explain “la tierra de los Andes, el Indio hombre de los Andes, la Sierra de los Andes,” i. e. the country of the Andes, an inhabitant of the Andes, or the chain of mountains themselves), are and must continue two wholly different and distinct words. There are no means of interpreting the proper name (Anti) by connecting it with any signification or idea; if such connection exist it is buried in the obscurity of the past. Other Composites of Anti besides the above-mentioned Antisuyu are “Anteruna” (the native inhabitant of the Andes), and Anteunccuy or Antionccoy, (sickness of the Andes, mal de los Andes pestifero).