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of the gymnasium, at Chichen (the tracings of these paintings are in our power), and also in the traditions and customs of their descendants, by comparing them with those of the Quichuas, I cannot but believe that Manco's ancestors emigrated from Xibalba or Mayapan, carrying with them the notions of the mother country, which they inculcated to their sons and grandsons, and introduced them among the tribes that submitted to their sway. Let it be remembered that the Quichua was not the mother-tongue of the Incas, who in court spoke a language unknown to the common people. They, for political motives, and particularly to destroy the feuds that existed between the inhabitants of the different provinces of their vast dominions, ordered the Quichua to be taught to and learned by everybody, and to be regarded as the tongue of _Ttahuantinsuyu_. Their subjects, from however distant parts of the empire could then also understand each other, and came with time to consider themselves as members of the same family. I have bestowed some attention upon the study of the Quichua. Not being acquainted with the dialects of the Aryan nations previous to their separation, I would not pretend to impugn the grand discovery of Mr. Lopez. But I can positively assert that expressions are not wanting in the Peruvian tongue that bear as strong a family resemblance to the dialects spoken in the Sandwich Islands and Tahiti, where I resided a few months, as the ruins of Tiahuanaco to those of Easter Island, that are composed of stones not to be found today in that place. When I visited it I was struck with the perfect similitude of the structures found there and the colossal statues, which forcibly recalled to my mind those said by Pinelo to have existed in Tiahuanaco even at the time of the Spanish conquest. This similarity in the buildings and language of the people separated by such obstacles as the deep water of the Pacific, hundreds of miles apart, cannot be attributed to a mere casual coincidence. To my mind it plainly shows that communications at some epoch or other have existed between these countries. On this particular point I have a theory of my own, which I think I can sustain by plausible facts, not speculative; but this is not the place to indulge in theories. I
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