The record-union., 1891-02-28
ne and his sweetheart We're burned alive

ScelQantS, mixed with the blood of their
conquerors, still occupy this region. They
left no records, except sach as were carved
In stone, and those the Spaniards did
their worst to efface. Yet when cne
comes to search for it, there is a mass OF
literature, principally in the Castilian
language, bearing upon the subject; but
so mixed is it with romance and specula-
ton, that one finds it impossible to dis
tingUish truth from fable.
Certainly the Incas must have been a
very wise and industrious people, and
perhaps the secret of their power lay in
the wisdom of their industry. The
Typographical aspect of most of the coun-
try appears so unfavorable to purposes of
agriculture and internal communication
that one wonders how so vast q popula-
ton could have found support. Nature
parts that it is only when viewed from q
great distance one can family compre-
hend the relation of the several parts to a
stUpendous whole. The Andes rarely
run i'll a single line, but more frequently
III several parallel or oblique chains. The
numerous huge volcanoes that look TO
the voyager on the. Pacific like independ-
ent masses, are all peaks OF the same
magnificent system so often called ''the
backbone of the Hemisphere that, COM
ing northward from the Straits Of Magel-
Ian, attains its loftiest elevations near the
equator, then gradually subsidies as it
nears the lsthnuS, rising again in the
picturesque mountains OF Central Amer
lea, tho Sierra Madras of Mexico, the
Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas of the
North.
The early Peruvians dubbed these stu
perdous heights copper mountains, y
-4ntcS (meaning copper being the
original word, which the Spaniard cor
rupted into Andes" Their western
steps, with splintercd and precipitous
sides of granite and porphyry. and the
higher regions wrapped in SHOWS that
resist even the equatorial sun and melt
only under their own volcanic fires, do
not offer more encouraging field to the
farmer than the deserts where rain seldom
falls, that stretch between them and the
ocean. Vet every rcd was utilized, and
III order to waste no available inch OF soil
they buried their dead in caves and built
their own dwellings upon rocks. They
terraced every hill and mountain to its
as the steps of q stairway and walled with
stones; and they filed every crevice in
the rock with soil where there was room
for a stalk of corn to grow. These evil
dences OF their patient toll are still plainly
to be seen, and often the aerial gardens
lie on such sleeps that one wonders how
anybody could have found foothold to
cultivate them. In order to utilize the
deserts-which seldom exceed fifty miles
in width and sometimes narrow down to
four or tive-they eycavated great areas
in the sand until they reached sufficient
moisture for vegetation, and then brought
guano from distant islands of the Pacific.
Tneir irrigation system was perfect, their
bitches extending hundreds Of miles and
curving around the hills, here sustained
by high walls of masonry, there cut
through the solid rock, or carried over
the valleys on enormous embankments.
Massive dams and reservoirs We're built
to collect the floods that came from the
melting SHOWS Of the mountains, and this
supply was conducted to rainiess locali-
ties.
One would think that communication
would be impossible between the differ
ent parts of the long, narrow Inca terri
tory, by reason of the wildneSs of the
mountains with their awful precipices,
furious torrents, and numerous que
brddds, or breaks" whose depth the
traveller. winding along a pathway far
above the clouds, vainly endeavors TO
fathom. Baron Won Humboldt says:
There are creviceS so deep that if We
suvius or the Puy de Dome were seated
in the bottom of them they would not
rise to the level of the surrounding
ridges" Yet an industrious population
lived along the ridges of the loftiest pla-
teaus, while towns and hamlets, in the
midst of orchards and gardens, seemed
suspended in mid-air. The populOus
plains Of Quito are nearly ten thousand
feet above the sea, and there are even
higher valleys and plateaus. Intercourse
was maintained between these numerous
settlement by means of the royal roads
that traversed the mountain passes, open
ing easy communication between CuZco
and the remotest parts of the empire; and
III L., L.. L
never repaired, than any the Spaniards
have since made.
The government of the Incas, however
arbitrary i'll form, was truly patriarchal
in spirit. The policy they pursued for
the prevention OF evils that might have
disturbed the perfect order of things is
exemplitied in their provisions against
poverty and idleness. In these they dis
cerned the two great causes Of disatfec.ion
IL populous community and wisely
guarded against them. The unremitting
industry of the people was secured not
only by their compulsory occupation at
home, but by their constant employment
in those public works which covered
every part of the country, and which still
bear testimony, even in decay. to primi-
tive grandeur. By the Inca laws, human
labor was regarded not only as means,
but an end. Their manifold provisions
against poverty were so perfect that in
their wide territory, so much of it bleak
mountain and barren desert, no man,
however humble, suffered for the neces-
saries of life. Famine-a scourge so COM
other American nation, but in the civil
lied countries of Europe-was an evil
here unknown.
Most of the. Spaniards came to Peru
merely in quest of gold, intending to re-
turn with their loot to the mother coun-
try; and though circumstances compelled
many of them to remain, they made nc
effort to improve upon, or even TO pre-
serve, the works they found. Their de-
scendants are still searching for treasure
among the tumble-down palaces of the
1ncas, and the visitor to any ruin is sure
to find some out-at-elbows half breed dig
ging among the rubbish for buried gold.
!. E}Nactiy how much plunder the con-
querors under Pizarro secured can never
be known. Robinson, Prescott and other
historians tell amazing tales OF the wealth
OF the Incas-how Atahualpa's faithful
subjects piled the room in which he was
imprisoned full of gold to the very top in
vain efforts to satisfy the avarice Of his
captorS, and all agree that the precious
metals torn from the temples of Cuzco
alone amounted to more than ninety MIL
lions of dollars. 1t is known that the
twenty per cent. which the Spanish king
claimed as his share of the loot was
enough to restore financial credit to inn
poyerished Spain. Millions more went
20 the church; enormous sums were spent
in the erection OF converts, monasteries
palaces for the viceroys and other public
buildings; and enough remained to enrich
every impecunious adventurer who came
10 the coast. FANNIE Is. WARD.
\ kIonop !