CHAPTER X
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE INCAS
It was the wise policy of the Incas to try to establish one language throughout their vast dominions, and they had an excellent instrument for their purpose. Their language was called Runa-simi, literally, the 'man's mouth,' or, as we should say, the man's tongue or the human speech. It was spoken, in its perfection, in the Inca and Quichua regions, the lands watered by the Vilcamayu and the Apurimac, with their tributaries. But the speech of more distant tribes was closely allied, and merely formed dialects, so that the establishment of the use of the Runa-simi presented but slight difficulties. Indeed, I am inclined to think that the separate dialects were the débris of one original language spoken during the megalithic age. Differences would be caused by the isolation of ayllus in valleys difficult of access. The same words would receive different meanings, while different words would get to have the same meaning.
It was the object of the rulers of Peru that these differences should disappear, and this useful administrative measure was quickly and automatically nearing completion. The Runa-simi is a rich
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