QUICHUAN STOCK. A linguistic group of which the Quichua (q.v.) are the most noted representatives, and including most of the ancient or existing tribes along the Pacific coast and in the Andes region of South America from about 2° N.. on the southern border of Colombia. to about 32° S. in the neighborhood of Valparaiso, Chile. Within this general area, however, are the Yunca, Aymara, Puquina, and Atacama°, all of alien lineage, but confined to limited territorial dis tricts. The boundaries of the linguistic stock nearly coincide with thoscof the ancient Peruvian Empire, but include also a few wild tribes, as the Malaba of Northern Ecuador. never brought under subjection to the Inca rule or civilization. So far as any linguistic evidence can show, the line of migration appears to have been from north to south. The Quitu of Ecuador maintained an in dependent kingdom under nineteen successive rulers, according to their own tradition, until finally subjugated by the Incas. In physical type
all the tribes of this stock are of low stature, heavy build, and very strong. With the exception of the few wild border tribes, they were all sharers in the same general culture that prevailed throughout the ancient empire, although in some cases, as with the Quitu, this appears to have been of indigenous growth before the consolida tion of the empire. The colonizing policy of the Incas tended the various cognate lan guages to one dialectic standard, the Quichua proper, which is still the prevailing language of Peru and Ecuador outside of the large cities. The present number of persons belonging to the Quichuan stock is probably not far from three million. Consult: Tschudi, Die (Vienna. 1853) ; id.. Orgunismus der Ehcaua Sprac)tc (Leipzig, 18S4) : Middendorf, Die ein heimisehen sprachcn Penis (6 vols., ib.. 1S90 92) ; Spilsbury. Lenguas indigcnas de Sud-anu'ri Ca, el Qttichua (Buenos Ayres, 1898).