of time among the Peruvians, or to the construction of one of their calendars, may perhaps be found in the eighteen niches which so constantly recur in their monuments. This he presumes may indicate a division of the year into eighteen months, as was the case among the Mexicans; and if so, we may conclude that among the Peruvians, as among the Mexicans, this division was adopted with a view to the adjustment of the lunar and the solar year, and that altogether the difference in the degree of knowledge between the two nations was not so great. The apparent inferiority of the Peruvians in intellectual culture to the Aztecs-whom in the art of constructing roads, aqueducts, canals, and bridges, as in all the details of agriculture and manufactures, they so much excelled—has on the other side been explained by the probability of the Mexicans being indebted for their science to the Toltecs, the race who preceded them in the occupation of the territory of Anahuac, and whose origin, as well as whose ultimate fate, is enveloped in mystery, but to whom are attributed those noble architectural ruins spread over the country which served the Aztecs as models, and who, it is thought, may possibly have been the builders of the cities in Central America, the ruins of which have given rise to so much speculation. But Peruvian civilisation does not either seem to have been the spontaneous growth of the territory in which it was developed, for independently of the suggestion contained in the legend of Manco Capac and Mama Oello, there are other evidences in favour of the supposition that the creative and fundamental ideas of the Peruvian empire sprang from a foreign source. Though it was the worship of the Sun which constituted the strong tie that bound together sovereign and people, and formed the basis of the social polity, there were current among the Peruvians higher and purer religious notions, so much at variance with the puerile fancies described above, and with the whole intellectual development of the people, that it is impossible to believe them to have been the product of their own yearnings and aspirations towards the infinite, and which must therefore have been received from a people intellectually and morally their superiors; for among the Peruvians it must be remembered there was no priesthood forming an exclusive caste and devoted to a life of observation and meditation, who might in consequence have attained to the higher truths which had failed to take hold of the popular mind.

The religious ideas to which we allude were the belief in one great spirit, creator of the universe, whom they ventured not to represent in any bodily form, and whom they worshipped under the name of Viracocha or Pachacamac—the latter signifying, 'He who gives life to the universe.' They also believed in the continued life of the soul after its separation from the body, and, as we have seen, in the possibility of a second union between the two, for which reason the body was so carefully preserved. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments also entered into their theology—the former being supposed to consist in a life of luxurious idleness and peace, the latter in one of unceasing toil—while some vague and floating notions were also entertained of an evil spirit called Cupay. To the Creator of the universe one temple only was consecrated in the empire of the Incas, and that, traditions said, stood there before the country came under their dominion. Garcilasso de la Vega—who, as a descendant of the Incas, has endeavoured in every way to surround their name with a glory that he

concedes to no other Indian tribes- maintains indeed that before the advent of the 'Children of the Sun' the inhabitants of all the territories subsequently brought under their dominion were savages of brutal habits, who went naked, subsisted upon roots, and lived in caverns; and at the commencement of his history represents the Incas as having taught them to cultivate the earth, to build stone edifices, and to weave and to spin. Subsequently, however, when speaking of the conquests of Maytu Capac, the fourth Inca, he makes mention of the city of Tiaguanico-situated near Lake Titicaca, in the territory of the tribe against whom Maytu Capac was waging war-some of the buildings in which were so remarkable that he stops to describe them in the words of Pedro de Cieça de Leon, one of the conquerors, who, in his 'Chronicles of Peru,' makes the following mention of the ruins :-'Tiaguanico is not a very large town, but it is deserving of notice on account of the great edifices which are to be seen in it; near the principal of these is an artificial hill raised on a groundwork of stone. Beyond this hill are two stone idols resembling the human figure, and apparently formed by skilful artificers. They are of somewhat gigantic size, and appear clothed in long vestments differing from those now worn by the natives of these provinces, and their heads are also ornamented. Near these statues is an edifice, which, on account of its antiquity and the absence of letters, leaves us in ignorance of the people who constructed it; and such, indeed, has been the lapse of time since its erection, that little remains but a well-built wall, which must have been there for ages, for the stones are very much worn and crumbled. In this place also there are stones so large and so overgrown, that our wonder is excited to comprehend how the power of man could have placed them where we see them. Many of these stones are variously wrought, and some, having the form of men, must have been their idols. Near the wall are many caves and excavations under the earth; but in another place more to the west are other and greater monuments, consisting of large gateways and their hinges, platforms, and porches, each of a single stone.

'What most surprised me while engaged in examining and recording these things, was that the above enormous gateways were formed on other great masses of stone, some of which were thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and six feet thick. Nor can I conceive with what tools or instruments those stones were hewn out, for it is obvious that before they were wrought and brought to perfection, they must have been vastly larger than we now see them.* But before I proceed to a further account of Tiaguanico, I must remark that this monument is the most ancient in Peru, for it is supposed that some of these structures were built long before the dominion of the Incas; and I have heard the Indians affirm that these sovereigns constructed their great building in Cuzco after the plan of the walls of Tiaguanico.' This description is borne out by Diego d'Alcobaça, a Spanish missionary, likewise quoted by Garcilasso de la Vega, and according to whom the natives believed that the gigantic buildings in Tiaguanico had been dedicated to the Creator of the universe.

* The removal of columns forty feet high, and consisting of one block of granite, from the quarries in Finland to the site of the church of St Isaac in St Petersburg, for which they were destined, is reckoned among the triumphs of modern mechanical science.

Here, then, we have not only proofs of a civilisation prior to that of the empire of the Incas, but indications, vague it is true, but nevertheless significant, of a connection between this civilisation and the purer religious tenets above alluded to. It is not, however, merely between the Peruvians and some anterior civilisation which these ruins and these religious ideas establish a connection, but between this early civilisation and all the tribes of South America; for modern research has not only demonstrated the existence of semi-civilised tribes on various points of that vast continent, beyond the limits of the Peruvian empire, but also a striking affinity between the architecture, the religious ideas, the traditions, and the customs, of the most modern and the most ancient civilisation on that continent, and of the most barbarous and the most cultivated of the tribes; while the contents of the tombs, spread over the length and breadth of the land, sometimes prove the relations which have existed between the most distant localities. Want of space precludes us from entering on a detailed account of the analogies found between the various monuments of aboriginal civilisation in South America, or of the indications of a common origin which have been traced between this civilisation and that of the Toltecs, the Olmecs, the Aztecs, and other nations of North America; nor can we more than allude to the symptoms of a downward course, from a civilised to a savage state, which have been observed in the southern as well as the northern continent of the New World.

However powerful it might have been with regard to the gradual absorption of semi-barbarous tribes of the same nation, and whatever principles of vitality it may have possessed if attacked by no superior force from without, a political system like that of Peru was little calculated to resist such power as was brought to bear against it by the Spanish conquerors. Living intellects, ready to seize upon every point of advantage, unfettered individual activity, left free to develop itself in every direction where it was needed, were brought into contact with a dead system of traditionary rules, and life conquered death. Though it is generally maintained that it was the superiority of European over Indian civilisation which enabled a handful of Spaniards in a few years to spread their dominion over a whole new world, this superiority was in the minds of the men, not in the arts which they wielded. It was not the discipline of the Spanish troops, nor the imposing appearance of their cavalry, nor the superiority of their weapons, or even of their strategical art, which gave the victory to the Europeans— but the genius of the men, developed under a system which gave free scope to individual character and capacities, which allowed each individual to carve out for himself the position for which nature had qualified him, which afforded incentives to ambition, and which inspired the desire for action and distinction. It is curious to mark the contrast between the material power of the empire of which we have attempted a sketch, and that of the troop of Spaniards who assailed it, and within a few brief months became its masters. It is true a departure from the traditionary rules of the Inca policy had been made shortly previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, and had introduced discord into the formerly so peaceful empire. The Inca Huayna Capac-during whose reign the whole of the powerful state of Quito was added to the Peruvian empire-in dying bequeathed this latter conquest to his youngest son Atahuallpa, and thus for the first

time divided the inheritance of the Children of the Sun. Atahuallpa, who was a young man of boundless ambition and warlike character, not content with having deprived the rightful heir of half the dominions which ought in justice to have been his, next laid claim to the other half also, and in consequence several years of sanguinary civil wars devastated the country. By the time Pizarro and his feeble force landed at Tumbez with a view to the subjugation of the empire, Huascar, the rightful monarch, had, however, succumbed; and the usurper, having encircled his brows with the royal borla, exercised as absolute sway as any previous Inca over the extended empire, the whole of whose resources were at his command to check the invasion of the white men.

Atahuallpa was at Caxamalca—the present Caxamarca—at the head of an army of 60,000 well-appointed troops, when Pizarro, with a force numbering 177 men-of which sixty-seven only were cavalry, three arquebusiers, and about twenty cross - bowmen-commenced his expedition across the country to beard the lion in his den. The hostile intentions of the Spanish commander were, however, carefully concealed; strict discipline was maintained in his little army, and the hospitality he claimed as a peaceful envoy from a foreign monarch was therefore cheerfully granted. But as the Spaniards drew nigh to headquarters, and interchanged messages with the sovereign, it became more and more evident to them that their ultimate objects were suspected, and that they ought to be prepared for all contingencies; and when Pizarro at length beheld the white pavilions of the Peruvian camp covering the ground for a space of several miles; when he saw the admirable discipline of the troops, and the many other evidences of the high state of civilisation of the country, and the power of the monarch, he became convinced that a bold stroke of genius only could save him and his companions, and render future success possible. To seize the person of the Inca in the very presence of his own army was the plan projected by the dauntless and unscrupulous Spaniard, and executed by him with singular boldness and success. The results of this audacious step must indeed have far surpassed Pizarro's most sanguine expectations, for the wheel which set the mechanism in motion being withdrawn, the state was paralysed at one fell blow, and the mighty empire lay prostrate at the feet of a few foreign adventurers. As long, indeed, as the Inca lived, though a captive, the bond which held the state together was not quite dissevered, for his wishes, transmitted to his people through his captors, were still revered by them as law. But after the cruel policy of Pizarro had induced him to put his unhappy captive to death, and the Peruvians saw that the power of the Children of the Sun was passed away for ever, then the beautiful fabric reared with so much care fell to the ground by its own weight; and the people passed without resistance from a state of pupilage to a state of slavery. Little more than ten years after Pizarro's first landing every vestige of the elaborate system which we have described had disappeared; and the state to which the country was reduced is thus eloquently described by Mr Prescott :

"The kingdom had experienced a revolution of the most decisive kind. Its ancient institutions were subverted; its heaven-descended aristocracy were levelled almost to the condition of the peasant; the people became the serfs of the conquerors; their dwellings in the capital were seized

and appropriated; the temples were turned into stables, the royal residences into barracks for the troops; the sanctity of the religious houses was violated. . . . . Intoxicated by the unaccustomed possession of power, and without the least notion of the responsibilities which attached to their situation as masters of the land, they (the Spaniards) too often abandoned themselves to the indulgence of every whim which cruelty or caprice could dictate. Not unfrequently, says an unsuspected witness, I have seen the Spaniards, long after the conquest, amuse themselves by hunting down the natives with bloodhounds for mere sport, or in order to train their dogs to the game! The most unbounded scope was given to licentiousness: the young maiden was torn without remorse from the arms of her family to gratify the passion of her brutal conqueror; the sacred houses of the Virgins of the Sun were broken open and violated, and the cavalier swelled his harem with a troop of Indian girls, making it seem that the crescent would have been a much more fitting symbol for his banner than the immaculate cross. But the dominant passion of the Spaniard was the lust of gold. For this he shrank from no toil himself, and was merciless in his exactions of labour from his Indian slave. Unfortunately Peru abounded in mines which too well repaid this labour, and human life was the item of least account in the estimate of the conquerors. Under his Incas the Peruvian was never suffered to be idle, but the task imposed on him was always proportionate to his strength. He had his seasons of rest and refreshment, and was well protected against the inclemency of the weather; every care was shewn for his personal safety; but the Spaniards, while they taxed the strength of the native to the utmost, deprived him of the means of repairing it when exhausted. They suffered the provident arrangements of the Incas to fall into decay; the granaries were emptied; the flocks were wasted in riotous living; they were slaughtered to gratify a mere epicurean whim; and many a llama was destroyed solely for the sake of the brains, a dainty morsel much coveted by the Spaniards. So reckless was the spirit of destruction after the conquest, says Ondegardo, the wise governor of Cuzco, that in four years more of these animals perished than in 400 in the times of the Incas. The flocks, once so numerous over the broad table-lands, were now thinned to a scanty number, that sought shelter in the fastnesses of the Andes. The poor Indian, without food, without the warm fleece which furnished him a defence against the cold, now wandered half-starved and naked over the plateau; and many an Inca noble roamed a mendicant over the lands where he once held rule; and if driven, perchance by his necessities, to purloin something from the superfluity of his conquerors, he expiated it by a miserable death.'