garden, and of the strange feelings with which they fill her mind. Her speech is the finest passage in the play. There is an amusing dialogue between Rumi-ñaui, the general of Colla-suyu, and the scapegrace Piqui Chaqui, in the third scene, during which the death of the Inca Pachacuti is announced. He was succeeded by his son Tupac Yupanqui,[1] who had been absent for many years, engaged in conquests, and is supposed to have been imperfectly informed of the events that had taken place round Cuzco. The new Inca gave the command of an army to Rumi-ñaui, with the duty of reducing the rebel forces under Ollantay to subjection.
In the last act Rumi-ñaui adopted a cunning stratagem. Concealing his army in the neighbouring ravine of Yana-huara, he came to the stronghold of the rebels, and appeared before Ollantay with his face covered with blood. He declared that he had been ill-treated by the Inca, and that he wished to join the insurrection. With regard to this incident, it is recorded that, in 1837, an Indian presented to Don Antonio Maria Alvarez, the political chief of Cuzco, an earthen vase with a face moulded on it. The portrait must have been that
- ↑ In the Museo Erudito a doubt is thrown on the authenticity of the drama because Pachacuti is said to have been succeeded by Tupac Yupanqui; for Garcilasso de la Vega places an Inca Yupanqui between Pachacuti and Tupac Yupanqui. At that time Garcilasso was accepted as the best authority. But it has since been proved that Garcilasso was mistaken, and that Tupac Yupanqui was the son and successor of Pachacuti, so that what seemed to be an argument against the authenticity of the drama has become an argument in its favour.
