everything but gold. It is said much more remained hidden 1 was found; the cloth alone was valued at two millions of dol Pizarro then distributed the treasure, which, after deducting king's fifth was divided into four hundred and eighty parts, of which amounted to four thousand dollars. No notice taken of the precious stones; every man took what he wis and few regarded the silver.

Cuzco was built on an uneven ground, surrounded by hills. the north side stood, on an eminence, that mighty fabric of the i which the Spaniards call a fortress. The streets were long narrow; the houses of stone, wonderfully jointed without mo There were several royal palaces; the chief temples of the were very magnificent, besides which there were four hun others. There were a great number of silversmiths and artificers always at work here, for the gold and silver bro into Cuzco never went out again. Some of the houses were and some plated with gold.

Having sacked the capital, the Spaniards ravaged the w country, displaying everywhere the same thirst of blood plunder which had directed their actions from the begin Had they shown any degree of moderation and humanity, would probably have made themselves masters of the empire v out farther bloodshed. A people naturally mild, accustomed long time past to the most blind submission, ever faithful to masters it had pleased Heaven to give them, and astonishe the terrible spectacle they had just been beholding,-such a na would have submitted to the yoke without much reluctance. plundering of their houses, the outrages done to their wives daughters, cruelties of all kinds succeeding each other wit interruption, such a variety of calamities stirred up the peop revenge, and they found commanders to guide their resentme

Numerous armies at first obtained some advantages ove invaders, but even these trifling successes were not durable. eral of the adventurers who had enriched themselves by the som of Atahualpa, had quitted their standards and returne Spain, that they might enjoy, in a more peaceable manner wealth so rapidly acquired. Their fortune inflamed the n of men, in the old and in the new world, and multitudes hast from all quarters to this land of gold. The Spaniards, in c quence, multiplied faster in Peru than in the other cold They soon amounted to five or six thousand; and then all tance was at an end. Those of the Indians who were the attached to their liberty, to their government, and to their rel took refuge at a distance, among inaccessible mountains. M them, however, submitted to the conquerors.

CHAPTER X.

Historica sketch of the Peruvian empire.-Manco Capac --Conjectures as to his origin.-Civilization of the Peruvians.-State of manners, arts and "government in Peru.-Dissensions among the Spanish conquerors.-Rupture between Pizarro and Almagro.-Defeat and death of Almagro.-Persecution of his ad herents.-Pizarro assassinated.-Massacres at Lima.-Usurpation and cruelties of young Almagro.-Vaca de Castro arrives in Peru.-Defeat of Almagro's party at Chupas.-The viceroy, Blasco Nunez.-Second insurrection.-Gonzalez Pizarro heads the rebels.-He enters Lima in triumph.-His arrogance and tyranny.-Gasca arrives in Peru.-Defeat and death of Gonzalez Pizarro.Atrocities of Carvajal.-End of the civil wars.-Death of the last of the Peruvian incas.

THE empire of Peru, according to the Spanish historians, had flourished for four centuries immediately previous to the conquests of Pizarro. According to the tradition of the country, it was founded by Manco Capac, and by his wife, Mama Ocllo, who appeared among the people about the year 1100, and claimed to be children of the sun. It has been conjectured that these two persons might be the descendants of certain navigators of Europe, or the Canaries, who had been shipwrecked on the coasts of Brazil. To support this conjecture, it has been said, that the Peruvians divided the year, as we do, into three hundred and sixty-five

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days, and that they had some notions of astronomy, and certain monuments to mark the different movements of the heavenly bodies, which the Spaniards, however, destroyed as being instruments of Indian idolatry. It has been asserted that the race of the incas, or lords of Peru, as the descendants of Manco Capac were called, were whiter than the natives of the country, and that several of the royal family had beards; and it is a known fact, that there are certain peculiar features, either ill-formed or regular, that are perpetuated and hereditary in some families of the royal line, though they do not constantly pass from one generation to another. Lastly, it has been said, that it was a tradition generally diffused throughout Peru, and transmitted from age to age, that there would one day arrive, by sea, men with beards, and of such superiority in arms, that nothing could resist them.

Manco taught his new subjects to cultivate the earth, to sow corn and pulse, to wear clothes, and to build houses. Mama Ocllo showed the Indian women how to spin, to weave cotton and wool; and instructed them in all the occupations suitable to their sex, and in all the arts of domestic economy.

The sun was the god of the Peruvians-the most natural of all idolatry; for what inanimate object is more likely to excite the homage of the ignorant, who are dazzled with its splendor, or of the grateful, on whom its benefits are lavished? The worship of the sun was instituted and sustained with great splendor. Temples were erected to their deity, and a variety of imposing ceremonies were established and observed. The descendants of Manco and his wife, were the only priests of the nation.

There was among the people no indulgence for idleness, which was considered, with reason, as the source of all crimes. Those, who, from age and infirmities, were rendered unfit for labor, were maintained at the public charge, but on condition that they should defend the cultivated lands from the birds. The citizens were severally obliged to make their own clothes, to erect their own dwellings, and to fabricate their own instruments of agriculture. Every separate family was accustomed to supply its own wants.

The Peruvians were enjoined to love one another, and many circumstances were calculated to cultivate this sentiment. They had common labors, always enlivened by agreeable songs, the object of which was to assist every one who had occasion for sccor; and the young women devoted to the worship of the sun, were required to make clothes, to be distributed by the emperor's officers to the poor, to the aged, and to orphans. They had also a custom of regarding each other as members of one single family, and that family the whole empire. All these circumstances

POLITICAL AND CIVIL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE of peru. 101

united, maintained among the Peruvians concord, benevolence, patriotism and public spirit; and contributed to substitute the sublime and amiable virtues, in lieu of personal interest, the spirit of property, and the usual incentives employed by other legisla

tors.

These virtues were rewarded with marks of distinction, as much as if they had been services rendered to the country. Those who had signalized themselves by any exemplary conduct, or by any distinguished actions of advantage to the public good, wore, as a mark of distinction, clothes made by the family of the incas. It is very probable that those statues, which the Spaniards pretended that they found in the temples of the sun, and which they took for idols, were the statues of men, who, by the greatness of their talents, or by a life replete with illustrious actions, had merited the homage or love of their fellow-citizens.

It appears certain that the great men of the country were usually the subjects of poems, composed by the family of the incas for the instruction of the people. There was another species of poetry conducive to morality. At Cuzco, and in all the other towns of Peru, tragedies and comedies were performed. The first were lessons of duty to the priests, warriors, judges, and persons of distinction, and presented to them models of public virtue. Comedies served for instruction to persons of inferior rank, and taught them the exercise of private virtues, and domestic economy.

The Peruvians were entirely unacquainted with the art of writing, for their quipos, or knotted cords, so much celebrated by certain authors who were fond of the marvellous, appear to have been no more than a device for rendering calculation more expeditious. These cords were of different colors; each color represented a different object, and each knot a number. But as these knots, however varied or combined, could represent no moral or abstract idea, nor operation or quality of the mind, they could render no service as an instrument of language.

The lands of the kingdom that were susceptible of cultivation were divided into three parts; one appropriated to the sun, another to the inca, and a third to the people. The first were cultivated in common, as were likewise the lands of orphans, of widows, of old men, of the infirm, and of the soldiers. These were cultivated immediately after the lands appropriated to the sun, and before those of the emperor. The season of this labor was announced by festivals; it was begun and continued with the sound of musical instruments and the chanting of hymns. The emperor levied no tribute and exacted nothing from his subjects, but that they should cultivate his lands; the whole produce of which, being deposited in public

magazines, was sufficient to defray all the expenses of the pire.

The Peruvians, though at the very source of gold and silver, k not the use of coin. They had not, properly speaking, any 1 of commerce; and numerous arts, which owe their existenc the immediate wants of social life, were in a very imperfect s of advancement among them. All their science consisted in m ory; all their industry was propagated by example.

The Peruvians had arrived at the art of fusing gold and sil and of working them. With these metals they made orname most of which were very thin, for the arms, for the neck, for nose, and for the ears; and also hollow statues, all of one pi and carved or cast in moulds. Vases were seldom made of th rich materials. The ordinary vases were of very fine clay, ea wrought. The art of weighing was not unknown amongst th and scales are discovered from time to time, the basins of wh are of silver, and in the shape of an inverted cone. Two ki of stone were used for mirrors; the one was soft, the other ha one was entirely opaque, the other had a small degree of trans rency; one was black, the other of a lead color. Wool, cotton the bark of trees were woven by these people into a cloth, wh was used for wearing apparel. These stuffs were dyed bla blue and red, by the arnotto and other plants. The Peruvian e eralds were of all shapes. Those that have been, in later da taken out of the tombs,-most of which are in lofty situatio where citizens of distinction were buried with their jewels,-pr that these precious stones were more perfect here, than they ha been found elsewhere. Pieces of workmanship have been son times discovered in red and yellow copper, and others which p take of both colors. It has been conjectured that the Peruvia were acquainted with the art of mixing metals, for their wrou copper never rusts, and never collects verdigris; which see to prove that the Indians mingled something with it, as a pres vative from oxidation. It is to be regretted that the useful art tempering it in this manner has been lost, either from want encouraging the natives of the country, or from the conten with which the conquerors regarded everything that had no c cern with their passion for riches.

It was, perhaps, with hatchets of copper or flint, and by inc sant friction, that they contrived to cut stones, to square them, a to join them without cement. Unfortunately, these instrume had not the same effect on wood as upon stone, for the artisa who shaped the granite and drilled the emerald, never kn how to join timber by mortices, tenons and pins, and in