The wikipedia article on Tupac Inca Yupanqui himself provides some more information on this subject [en.wikipedia.org]. Following one of the links provided on that page, i managed find this description, which comes from "History of the Incas by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Edited by Sir Clements Markham, Translated by Sir Clements Markham":


Marching and conquering on the coast of Manta, and the island of Puna,
and Tumbez, there arrived at Tumbez some merchants who had come by sea
from the west, navigating in _balsas_ with sails. They gave information
of the land whence they came, which consisted of some islands called
Avachumbi and Ninachumbi, where there were many people and much gold.
Tupac Inca was a man of lofty and ambitious ideas, and was not satisfied
with the regions he had already conquered. So he determined to challenge
a happy fortune, and see if it would favour him by sea. Yet he did not
lightly believe the navigating merchants, for such men, being great
talkers, ought not to be credited too readily. In order to obtain fuller
information, and as it was not a business of which news could easily be
got, he called a man, who accompanied him in his conquests, named
Antarqui who, they all declare, was a great necromancer and could even
fly through the air. Tupac Inca asked him whether what the merchant
mariners said was true. Antarqui answered, after having thought the
matter well out, that what they said was true, and that he would go
there first. They say that he accomplished this by his arts, traversed
the route, saw the islands, their people and riches, and, returning,
gave certain information of all to Tupac Inca.

The Inca, having this certainty, determined to go there. He caused an
immense number of _balsas_ to be constructed, in which he embarked more
than 20,000 chosen men; taking with him as captains Huaman Achachi,
Cunti Yupanqui, Quihual Tupac (all Hanan-cuzcos), Yancan Mayta, Quisu
Mayta, Cachimapaca Macus Yupanqui, Llimpita Usca Mayta (Hurin-cuzcos);
his brother Tilca Yupanqui being general of the whole fleet. Apu
Yupanqui was left in command of the army which remained on land.

Tupac Inca navigated and sailed on until he discovered the islands of
Avachumbi and Ninachumbi, and returned, bringing back with him black
people, gold, a chair of brass, and a skin and jaw bone of a horse.
These trophies were preserved in the fortress of Cuzco until the
Spaniards came. An Inca now living had charge of this skin and jaw bone
of a horse. He gave this account, and the rest who were present
corroborated it. His name is Urco Huaranca. I am particular about this
because to those who know anything of the Indies it will appear a
strange thing and difficult to believe. The duration of this expedition
undertaken by Tupac Inca was nine months, others say a year, and, as he
was so long absent, every one believed he was dead. But to deceive them
and make them think that news of Tupac Inca had come, Apu Yupanqui, his
general of the land army, made rejoicings. This was afterwards commented
upon to his disadvantage, and it was said that he rejoiced because he
was pleased that Tupac Inca Yupanqui did not appear. It cost him his
life.

These are the islands which I discovered in the South Sea on the 30th of
November, 1567, 200 and more leagues to the westward, being the great
discovery of which I gave notice to the Licentiate Governor Castro. But
Alvaro de Mendana, General of the Fleet, did not wish to occupy
them

The editor and translator Sir Clements Markham then provides a footnote stating that he believes the islands described to be two of the Galapagos Island, but i'm sure this is a matter of conjecture, as most such identification of islands tend to be. Also, does anybody know what Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa is likely to have meant by "South Sea" and what was the great discovery he made in 1567?

As for the islands being Easter Island, the wikipedia articles offers the following more tentative evidence:

It has been suggested that one of the islands was Easter Island where oral traditions have been claimed to record a group of long-eared hanau eepe coming to the island from an unknown land.[2] The natives were obviously not unaccustomed with sea-going ships when Jakob Roggeveen arrived there (despite not being able to build them themselves as by then the island had been devoid of sufficient quantities of larger trees for some time), and there are indications - South American microorganisms in the lake sediment of Rano Raraku appearing at a compatible date, the nga'atu/totora bulrush otherwise known from Lake Titicaca of which still-living plants were used by the Incans for thatching ship superstructures, and possibly the Incan-style masonry of Ahu Vinapu) - suggesting that at least one stray ship from the exploring fleet may have indeed happened upon Easter Island. Intriguingly, Easter Island genealogies mentions a Tupa Ariki ("Prince/King Tupa") who has been (controversially) conjectured to have ruled around 1485 for a short time and then left by ship

None of this is sourced and the claims about Incan-style masonry of Ahu Vinapu i guess are controversial and highly disputable, but apparently the Totora plant, a subspecies of the giant bulrush sedge, is known only from Lake Titicaca and Easter Island and is used by South American peoples and Easter Islanders for maritime activities. Also, like i said before, this kind of evidence is only of interest in light of the recently "confirmed" evidence of pre-columbian trans-pacific contacts.


Dar





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2008 11:49AM by darkuser.