The earth and its inhabitants .. . Bolivia, Chili and Argentina. In thesewestern regions it is the loujua r/eiwra/, corresponding to the Tupi-Guarani, whichis the lengoa gcral of Brazil, Paraguay and Corrientes, that is, of the easternsection of the southern continent. This general language of the Andeanuplands, the mother-tongue of two millions of people, has held its ground in allthe lands where it had been introduced by the Incas. In the rural districts ofthe Sierra it is nowhere yielding to the encroachments of Spanish ; but, on the • Clements K. Markham, Cuzco and Lima. 802 SOUTU AMERICA—
The earth and its inhabitants .. . Bolivia, Chili and Argentina. In thesewestern regions it is the loujua r/eiwra/, corresponding to the Tupi-Guarani, whichis the lengoa gcral of Brazil, Paraguay and Corrientes, that is, of the easternsection of the southern continent. This general language of the Andeanuplands, the mother-tongue of two millions of people, has held its ground in allthe lands where it had been introduced by the Incas. In the rural districts ofthe Sierra it is nowhere yielding to the encroachments of Spanish ; but, on the • Clements K. Markham, Cuzco and Lima. 802 SOUTU AMERICA—THE ANDES liEGIONS. contrary, the Spaniards themselves learn Quichtia, ami usually speak it in thefamily circle in preference to their own. Several Quichua terms, such as pampa,llama, condor, guano, quina, have entered into the universal speech of culturedpeoples. But, despite its hard struggle for existence, there can he little doubt that Quichua must eventually yield to Fig. 116.—EsiPIEB OF THE 1 : a7,000, Spanish, which is the speech ofthe doiiiinaiit urban populations, ofliterature, coinmcrcc, and coiilom-jwrary civilisation. Quichua is aremarkable language in several re-spects, and may be taken as a typeof the South American agglutinatingtongues. Thanks to the facility ofcomposition, it is extremely richand pliant, capable of expressingwith case the subtlest shades ofthought, not by inflections of theroot, as in the Aryan systim, butby particles loosely altached to theword. Both subject and object areincorporated in the verb, and inconversation the two speakers areclearl}- indicated by the formalelements. Between the years loGO and1754 no less than ten grammarsand dictionaries were published, allbut one at Lima. Quichua alsopossesses a cojjious literature, in-cluding the Apu Ollantai, an ancientdrama in several texts, relating the-feudal wars of the Inca has also brought to lightthe Usca Paucan (Loves of theOolden Flower), a tragedy w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
