metal, were composed of copper alloyed with a very small proportion of tin, which
gave it great additional tenacity. I t was with chisels of this kind that they
shaped those enormous blocks of stone which have already been mentioned.
“ Yet all we have said,” observes Ulloa, “ is surpassed by the ingenuity with
which they wrought emeralds; these gems being found cut into various shapes,
some spherical, others cylindrical, conical, and various other shapes, made with
perfect accuracy, and drilled through with all the delicacy of our European artists.
It is an almost insurmountable difficulty to explain how they could work a stone
of such hardness.”*
The constructive talent of the Incas was also conspicuous in their roads.
One of these is eminently deserving of notice, and is thus described by Humboldt,
in his journey across the plains of Assuay. “We were surprised to Arid in this
place, and at heights which greatly surpass the top of the peak of Teneriffe, the
magnificent remains of a road constructed by the Incas of Peru. This causeway,
lined with freestone, may he compared to the finest Roman roads I have seen in
Italy, France or Spain. It is perfectly straight, and keeps the same direction for
six or eight thousand metres. We observed the continuation of this road near
Caxamarca, one hundred and twenty leagues to the south of Assuay; and it is
believed in the country that it led as far as the city of Cuzco.”f
After a review of the preceding facts, how idle is the assertion of Dr. Robertson,
that America contained no monuments older than the conquest! How
replete with ignorance are also the aspersions of Pinkerton and De Pauw! Two
of these authors, who wrote expressly on American history, are unpardonable for
such gross misrepresentation. They appear to have veiled the truth in order to
support an hypothesis.J It is in vain longer to contend against facts; for however
difficult it may be to explain them, they are nevertheless incontrovertible.
Whence the Peruvians derived their civilisation, may long remain a mooted
question; that they possessed it, cannot he denied. “ At a time when a public
highway was either a relic of Roman greatness, or a sort of nonentity in England,
there were roads fifteen hundred miles in length in the empire of Peru. The
feudal system was as firmly established in these transatlantic kingdoms as in
France. The Peruvians were ignorant of the art of forming an arch, hut they
* Quoted in M’Culloh’s Researches, p. 366. t Monuments, I, p. 241.
t Robertson, Hist. Amer. II, p. 110. Am . erf.—Pinkerton, Essay on . the Goths, p. 68.—De
Patjw, passim.
had constructed suspension bridges over frightful ravines: they had no implements
of iron, hut their forefathers could move blocks of stone as huge as the Sphinxes
and Memnons of Egypt.”*
It is remarked by Dr. M’Culloh that in astronomy the Peruvians appear to
have been far behind the Mexicans. B A s the Peruvians” says he, “ made, by
means of towers, constant azimuth observations 'on the sun’s rising and setting,
and also upon the shadows cast by pillars at the times of the equinoxes and
solstices, I cannot easily perceive a reason for the great inaccuracy of their year as
it has been represented to us; and I am therefore inclined to think that only
some grosser part of their calendar has been preserved. In this opinion I am
further seemingly strengthened by not finding the Spanish writers to describe any
cycle of ydars to have been used by them, which the nature of their observations
would hardly have permitted them to dispense with, f
“Their year,” says Herrera, “ was divided into twelve months, distinguished
by their several names; and particular festivals appointed in each of them. The
year began in January, till one of the Incas ordered it should begin in December,
at whjoh time they celebrated their great festival.”
, j T h e Peruvians,” adds Dr. M’Culloh, “ unlike the Mexicans, were ignorant
of the causes of eclipses, for they supposed the planets at such times to be sick.
They particularly distinguished the planet Venus, some of the brighter fixed stars,
the Pleiades, the Milky Way, &c., to all of which they gave certain names, and
imagined them for the most part to be, or to represent, various animals which they
were accustomed to meet with in Peru.ӣ
We Often hear the government of the Incas characterised as one of peculiar
mildness; but it was, on the contrary, an absolute rule, in which they held
despotic sway over their subjects, “ governing them according to their own views
and pleasure, or as the exigencies of the times may have required: hence the
proceedings of the government were necessarily fluctuating, and, according to
the capacity and temper of the Inca, were either just or unjust, capricious or
benevolent’’^ All the lands of the empire were divided into three portions, of
which one only fell to the share of the people; and even this they could not sell
or otherwise dispose of, the title being vested in the Inca himself; and to prevent
* Long, Polynesian Nation, p. 87.
t Researches Concerning the Aboriginal Hist, of Amer. p. 373.
t Idem, p, 36.1. § Idem, p. 374.