Note 111 — THE PLATEAU, OR TABLE-LAND, OF CAXAMARCA, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA, AND THE FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN, From the Ridge of the Andes.

p. 390—“On the Ridge of the Andes or Antis.”

The Inca Garcilaso, who was well acquainted with the native language of his country, and who loved to trace etymologies, invariably calls the chain of the Andes, “las Montañas de los Antis.” He states positively that the great mountain-chain, eastward of Cuzco, derives its name from the race of the Antis and from the province Anti, which was situated to the east of the capital of the Incas. The quaternary divisions of the Peruvian empire, according to the four cardinal points, reckoning from Cuzco, did not derive their names from the very circumstantial words (having reference to the sun) which in the Quichua language signify east, west, north, and south (intip llucsinanpata, intip yaucunanpata, intip chaututa chayananpata, intip chaupunchau chayananpata). Those divisions were named from provinces and races of people (Provincias llamadas Anti, Cunti, Chincha y Colla) situated to the east, west, north, and south, with reference to the city of Cuzco, which was the centre of the empire. The four divisions of the Inca theocracy were accordingly named Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu, Chinchasuyu, and Collasuyu; the word Suyu signifying strip or part. Notwithstanding the great distance between them, Quito belonged to Chinchasuyu; and in proportion as the Incas, by their religious wars, extended their faith, their language, and their despotic government, these Suyus acquired greater dimensions and became more unequal in magnitude. With the names of the provinces was thus associated an indication of their position; and “to name those provinces,” observes Garcilaso, “was the same as to say to the east or to the west.” (Nombrar aquellos Partidos era lo mismo que decir al Oriente, ó al Poniente.) The snow-chain of the Andes was regarded as an eastern chain. “La Provincia Anti da nombra á las Montañas de los Antis. Llamáron à la parte 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 422Oriente.” (Commentarios Reales, p. i. pp. 47, 122.)^[RR] Later writers have supposed the name of the Andes chain to be derived from the word Anta, which, in the Quichua language, signifies copper. That metal was indeed of the highest importance to a people who for their edged-tools or cutting instruments, employed not iron, but a sort of copper mixed with tin; but still the name of copper mountains would scarcely have been extended over so vast a chain. Professor Buschmann has justly observed, that the final “a” is retained in the word anta when it forms part of a compound; and Garcilaso expressly adduces as an example anta, copper, and antamarca, province of copper. Moreover in the ancient language of the Inca empire (the Quichua), words and their compounds are so simple in formation that the conversion of “a” into “i” out of the question; so that Anta, copper, and Anti or Ante (the country or an inhabitant of the Andes or the mountain-chain itself) must be regarded as words totally distinct from each other. In dictionaries of the Quichua language, with explanations in Spanish, the word Anti or Ante has the following interpretations: la tierra de los Andes;—el Indio, hombre de los Andes;—la Sierra de los Andes. The original signification or derivation of the word is buried in the darkness of past ages. Besides Antisuyu, some other compounds of which Anti or Ante forms a part, are, Anteruna (the native inhabitant of the Andes), Anteunccuy or Antionccoy (the sickness of the Andes; mal de los Andes pestifero.)