, fit caricatures of the
Spaniards. Like all other Indian feasts, this ended in getting gradually
and completely drunk. During the ceremony a troop of horsemen, gayly
dressed, and headed by one in regimentals with a cocked hat, galloped
twice around the Plaza, throwing oranges at the people; after which
there was a bull-bait.

[Footnote 48: "History (says Prescott) furnishes few examples of more
absolute authority than such a revolution in the language of an empire
at the bidding of a master." The pronunciation of Quichua requires a
harsh, explosive utterance. Gibbon says the sound of it to him resembled
Welsh or Irish; that of Aymara, English. The letters _b_, _d_, _f_, _g_,
and _o_ are wanting in the ancient tongue of Quito; _p_ was afterward
changed to _b_, _t_ to _d_, _v_ to _f_, _c_ to _g_, and _u_ to _o_: thus
Chim-pu-razu is now Chimborazo. A few words bear a striking analogy to
corresponding Sanscrit words; as _Ynti_, the Inca for sun, and _Indra_,
the Hindoo god of the heavens.]

The features of the Quichuans have a peculiar cast, which resembles, in
D'Orbigny's opinion, no other American but the Mexican, and some
ethnologists trace a striking similarity to the natives of Van Diemen's
Land. They have an oblong head (longitudinally), somewhat compressed at
the sides and occiput; short and very slightly arched forehead;
prominent, long, aquiline nose, with large nostrils; large mouth, but
not thick lips; beautiful enduring teeth; short chin, but not receding;
cheek-bones not prominent; eyes horizontal, and never large; eyebrows
long; thick, straight, coarse, yet soft jet black hair; little or no
beard; a long, broad, deep, highly-arched chest; small hands and feet;
short stature, seldom reaching five feet, and the women still shorter; a
mulatto color (olive-brown says D'Orbigny, bronze says Humboldt), and a
sad, serious expression. Their broad chests and square shoulders remind
one of the gorilla; but we find that, unlike the anthropoid ape, they
have very weak arms; their strength lies in their backs and legs. They
have shrewdness and penetration, but lack independence and force. We
never heard one sing.[49] Always submissive to your face, taking off
his hat as he passes, and muttering, "Blessed be the altar of God," he
is nevertheless very slow to perform. Soured by long ill treatment, he
will hardly do any thing unless he is compelled. And he will do nothing
well unless he is treated as a slave. Treat him kin