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Añu: A
species of nasturtium with edible roots.
Aryballus:
A bottle-shaped vase with pointed bottom.
Azequia:
An irrigation ditch or conduit.
Bar-hold:
A stone cylinder or pin, let into a gatepost in such a way as to permit the
gate bar to be tied to it. Sometimes the bar-hold is part of one of the ashlars
of the gatepost. Bar-holds are usually found in the gateway of a compound or
group of Inca houses.
Coca:
Shrub from which cocaine is extracted. The dried leaves are chewed to secure
the desired deadening effect of the drug.
Conquistadores: Spanish soldiers engaged in the conquest of America.
Eye-bonder:
A narrow, rough ashlar in one end of which a chamfered hole has been cut.
Usually about a feet long, 6 — inches wide, and 2 inches thick, it was bonded
into the wall of a gable at right angles to its slope and flush with its
surface. To it the purlins of the roof
could be fastened. Eye-bonders are also found projecting above the lintel of a
gateway to a compound. If the “bar-holds” were intended to secure the
horizontal bar of an important gate, these eye-bonders may have been for a
vertical bar.
Gobernador:
The Spanish-speaking town magistrate. The alcaldes are his Indian aids. Habas
beans: Broad beans.
Huaca: A
sacred or holy place or thing, sometimes a boulder. Often applied to a piece of
prehistoric pottery.
Mañana:
To-morrow, or by and by. The “mañana habit” is Spanish-American procrastination.
Mestizo:
A half-breed of Spanish and Indian ancestry. Milpa: A word used in Central
America for a small farm or clearing. The milpa system of agriculture involves
clearing the forest by fire, destroys valuable humus and forces the farmer to
seek new fields frequently.
Montãna:
Jungle, forest. The term usually applied by Peruvians to the heavily forested
slopes of the Eastern Andean valleys and the Amazon Basin.
Oca:
Hardy, edible root, related to sheep sorrel.
Quebrada:
A gorge or ravine.
Quipu:
Knotted, parti-colored strings used by the ancient Peruvians to keep records. A
mnemonic device.
Roof-peg:
A roughly cylindrical block of stone bonded into a gable wall and allowed to
project 12 or 15 inches on the outside. Used in connection with “eye-bonders,”
the roof-pegs served as points to which the roof could be tied down.
Sol:
Peruvian silver dollar, worth about two shillings or a little less than half a
gold dollar.
Soroche:
Mountain-sickness. Stone-peg: A roughly cylindrical block of stone bonded into
the walls of a house and projecting 10 or 12 inches on the inside so as to
permit of its being used as a clothes-peg. Stone-pegs are often found
alternating with niches and placed on a level with the lintels of the niches.
Temblor:
A slight earthquake.
Temporales:
Small fields of grain which cannot be irrigated and so depend on the weather
for their moisture.
Teniente gobernador: Administrative officer of a small village or
hamlet.
Terremoto:
A severe earthquake.
Tesoro:
Treasure.
Tutu: A
hardy variety of white potato not edible in a fresh state, used for making chuño,
after drying, freezing, and pressing out the bitter juices.
Ulluca:
An edible root.
Viejo:
Old.
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