cal traditions of much more importance,
related in long poems and preserved in the same way; and there were
annals and national documents recorded in the _quippus_.

Some of the Spanish writers on Peru, who described what they saw in the
country at the time of the Conquest, discussed its history. If they had
used the proper sources of information with a more penetrating and
complete investigation, and studied the subject as it might have been
studied at that time, their historical sketches would now have great
value. The two most important works written at this time, the "Relacion"
of Sarmiento and the "Relaciones" of Polo de Ondegardo, were never
printed. But none of these writers sought to study Peruvian antiquity
beyond the period of the Incas, although some of them (Acosta for
instance) inquired sufficiently to see that Manco Capac was a mythical
personage prefixed to the dynastic line of the Incas without actually
belonging to it. This limited view of the ancient history, which was
inconsistent with what could be seen in the antiquities and traditions
of the country, was generally accepted, because nothing more could be
known in Europe, and its influence was established by the undue
importance accorded to the "Commentarios Reales" of Garcilasso de la
Vega, published in 1609.

GARCILASSO'S HISTORY.

Garcilasso de la Vega, the son of a distinguished Spaniard of the same
name, was born at Cuzco in 1540. His mother, named Nusta, was a niece of
the great Inca Huayna Capac, and granddaughter of his no less eminent
predecessor, Tupac Yupanqui. The intimate blood relationship which
connected him with the Incas naturally drew attention to his work, and,
with more haste than reason, was treated as the best possible
qualification for writing Peruvian history; therefore his "Commentarios"
acquired a very great celebrity, and came to be regarded as the highest
authority on all questions relating to Peru previous to the Conquest.
The work never deserved this reputation, although it was not without
value as an addition to what had been written on the subject by
Spaniards. Garcilasso was not well qualified to write a faithful history
of Peru either by his knowledge or by the temper of his mind. His aim
was to glorify the Incas and their times, and much of his work was in
the strain of tales heard in childhood from his mother.

The "Commentarios Reales" were written just as their author's training
had prepared him to write th