Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-28

Its western boundary was OF course the Pacific
but its eastern has never been clearly deter
| mined. In some places it spread ont far be-
| yond the Andes. and in others the territory OF
| barbarous tribes came down to within q few
miles of the coast. The authority above men
toned states that its widest portion was not
more than $50 miles across.
TIE WISDOM OF THEIR INDUSTRY.
Certainly the Incas must have been q very
wise and industrious people; and perhaps the
secret Of their power lay in the wisdom Of their
| industry The Geographical aspect of most OF
| the country appears so unfavorable to purposes
| of agriculture and internal communication that
\ one wonders how vast n population could
have found support. Nature works on SO i'm
mense a scale in these parts that il is only when
comprehend the relation of the several parts to
a stupendous whole The Andes rarely run in
a single line. but more frequently in several
parallel or oblique chains. The numerous huge
volcanoes that look to the yoyage- on the Paci-
fc like independent masses arc all peaks of the
| same magnificent system so often called 1.-The
| backbone of the hemisphere" that. coming
| northward from the Straits Of Magellan, attains
| its loftiest elevations near the equator; then
gradually subsidies as II nears the sthmus, ris-
ing again in the picturesque mountains of Cen
| trail America the Sierra Madras of Mexico the
Rockies and Sierra Nevadas Of the north.
The early Peruvians dubbed these stupendous
heights copper mountains" Antes, (meaning
Spaniard corrupted into Andes" Their west
ern steps. with splintered and precipitous sides
Of granite and porphyry. and the higher re-
gions wrapped in SHOWS that resist even the
equatorial sun and melt only under their own
volcanic fires do not offer a more encouraging
field to the farmer than the deserts, where rain
seldom falls, that stretch between them and the
ocean.
EVERY ROD WAS UTILIZED.
Yet every rod was utilized. and in 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 summit, the terraces being
often narrow as the steps of a stairway and
walled with stones and they filed every crevice
in the rock with soil where there room for
stalk Of corn to grow. These evidences Of
their patient toll still plainly to be seen,
and often the aerial gardens lie OH 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 five-they cxcavated great aIeas in the
sand until they reached sufficient moisture for
vegetation. and then brought guano from dis
tant islands of the Pacific. Their 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. Mas
sive dams and reservoirs were built TO collect
the floods that came from tine melting SHOWS of
the mountains, and this supply was conducted
to rainless localities
ROYAL ROADS N MOUNTAIN PASSES.
One would think that communication would
be impossible between the different parts of
the long, narrow Inca territory by reason of
the wildness of the mountains with their awful
precipiccs. furious torrents and numerous que
bradas, or breaks whose depth the traveller
winding along pathway far above the clouds,
vainly endeavOrs to fathom- Baron Won Hum
boldt SAYS: There are crevices SO deep that if
Vesuvius or the Puy de Dome we're seated in the
bottom OF them they would not rise to the
level of the surrounding ridges" Yet an in
dustrious population lived along the ridges OF
the loftiest plateaus, while towns and hamlets,
in the midst Of orchards and gardens, seemed
suspended in midnir. The populous plains of
Quito are nearly 10000 feet above the sea, and
there are even higher valleys and plateaus. In
tercourse was maintained between these numer-
Gus settlements by means Of the royal roads
that traversed the mountain passes opening
easy communication between Cuzco and the
remotest parts of the empire: and the old roads
are better TODAY. though never repaired. than
any the Spaniards have since made
rur oovvpxxrxr or rur ,xc.
~. - ,,.
Inc government Oh 'he meas however aroi-
trary In form, was truly patriarchai In spirit.
The policy they pursued for the prevention Of
evils that might have disturbed the perfect
order OF things Is exempiiiied in their pro-
,hn, aS,ns, Io'er,S anu iuneness IN .sese
in q ponnlons eommunity and wiselv cnarded
against them The unremitting industry of the
people was secured not only by their compul-
sorry 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 their
primitive grandeur. BY the Inca laws human
labor was regarded not only AZ N means but an