The coast peoples, the principal of which were the Yungas, occupied the hot valleys near the Pa cific. Their country extended from the Gulf of Guayaquil south to .Callao, but south of this was another related people in the same culture plane. They had solved the problem, of the arid region by dividing the channels of the rivers and by other irrigation works, some of which are in use to this day by Peruvian Guano, brought from the islands, was to fertilize their fields, a practice which the Incas adopted from them. They also hail boats of reeds provided with sails, and made in them considerable voyages along the coast. The highland people hail such boats on Lake Titicaca, and it is believed that they were derived from the coast tribes. The coat civiliza tion was ancient, and had begun to fade away long before the Incas became prominent on the highland. The last political organization of the coast was the Chinni kin”dom, whose capital was Chanchan, or Gran Chimu. near Trujillo, the ruins of whose principal buildings cover about 2.50 acres, but the remains 4, f other works thickly cover a plain six by twelve miles in extent. This city, which may be taken as typical of the coast culture, was laid out in the form of a long paral lelogram, extending inland from the sea. The ma terial u-ed for construction is adobe formed in large blocks; stone is used sparingly in minor details. This, it will lee observed, is earthquake construction. the coast suffering front violent earth The city was divided into squares by cross streets; large buildings of laby rinthine plan, with a court and numerous rooms, the whole structure having a single entrance. oc cupied many of the squares: others were occupied by great palaces. Excavations have shown that the inclosed labyrinths or wards were the quar ters of the artificers of Chimu and were in effect fortresses, probably each assigned to a different trade. The walls of Chimu have broad founda tions of stone. the superstructure of adobe bricks, the walls narrowing, toward the top. Decoration was by frescoes, rustic work, or by laying the adobes in checker, lattice, or arabesque patterns.
The roofs were of cane, and a few beams of alga roba wood have been found in the ceilings of chambers.
On the plain of Chimu may be seen the em bankment of the aqueduct supplying the city with water, its terminals leading to the fields and into the city. Sunken gardens made by clearing away the soil down to the moist layer are numerous. The most prominent landmarks on the plain are the three pyramidal cemeteries. These are cellu lar structures built of adobe and stone. The largest covers an area 5S0 feet square, or eight acres, and is 150 feet high.
In material civilization the Peruvians stand first among the aborigines of this hemisphere. hut in intellectual progress they fall below the Mex icans, especially in the lack of writing, of which the quipus of knotted cords of different color poorly took the place. They had some knowledge of astronomy and metrology; the balance, it ap pears, was used. Their surgical knowledge is shown by the successful trephining practiced.
Artificial deformation of the skull was exten sively practiced. The people were of low stature (1600 cm., 5 feet 3 inches). thickset and strong, not differing in this respect front the present Pe ruvian Indians.
Consult: Tsehudi. Travels in. Peru (Eng.
trans.. New York, 1S49): Salcamahuya. rount of the of Peru (London. 1873) ; Wiener, Peron et Bolivie (Paris, 1874) ; Squier, Peru (ib., 1877) ; Reiss and Stilbel, Das Totenfeld Aaron in. Peru (Berlin, 1880-1887) ; Brinton, The .:1»terican Lace (New York, 1891) ; Mark ham, Cu. co (London, 18.56) ; id., Narratire of the Rites and Lairs of the Incas (ib., 1873) ; id., A History of Peru (Chicago. 1892) ; Winsor, Narratire and Critical History, vols. i. and ii.; Sttibel and Uhle. Die Ruinenstiitte rot. Tiahua 'VICO (Breslau, 1893) ; McGee and Muniz, Primi tive Trephining in Peru (16th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1897) ; Nadaillac. PrehiStOTie America, Eng. trans. (New York, 1S93) ; Baessler, Ancient Peru vian Art (ib., 1903).