in Ancient Peru.

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Chap. 18.]

the invention of arches, to convey the water on the level from one preci-pice to the other, but traced round the mountain until they found waysand passages at the same height and level with the head of the springs.

“ The cisterns or conservatories which they made for these waters, atthe top of the mountain, were about twelve feet deep; the passage wasbroken through the rocks, and channels made of hewn stone, of about twoyards long and about a yard high ; which were cemented together, andrammed in with earth so hard, that no water would pass between, toweaken or vent itself by the holes of the channel.

“ The current of water which passes through all the division of Cunti-myu I have seen in the province of Quechua, which is part of that divis-ion, and considered it an extraordinary work, and indeed surpassing thedescription and report which hath been made of it. But the Spaniardswho were aliens and strangers, little regarded the convenience of theseworks, either to serve themselves in the use of them, or keep them in re-pair, nor yet to take so much notice of them, as to mention them in theirhistories, but rather out of a scornful and disdaining humor, have sufferedthem to run into ruine, beyond all recovery. The same fate hath befallenthe aqueducts which the Indians made for watering their corn lands, ofwhich two thirds at least are wholly destroyed, and none kept in repair,nnless sorae few which are so useful that without them they cannot sus-tain themselves with bread, nor with the necessary provisions of life.All which works are not so totally destroyed, but that there. still remainssome ruines and appearances of them.”

The last who was independent, and by far the worst of the incas, wasAtahualpa or Atabalipa , the 13th from Manco Capac. He treacherouslyslew his brother and murdered nearly all his relations. Garcilasso’smother and a few others escaped. He was strangled by Pizarro in May1533, after having purchased his life of that monster, by filling the room ofhis prison with gold and silver vessels, and ingots, to a line chalked roundthe wall, at the height of about seven feet from the ground. This roomwas twenty-five feet by sixteen.

That the Peruvians had Wells in the remotest times has already been no-ticed; and when the Spaniards invaded their country, great quantitiesof treasures were thrown into them. The discovery of these wellsmay yet bring to view numerous specimens of their works in themetals. Wehave not met with any intimation of their manner of raisingwater, whether by a simple cord and vessel, by means of a pulley, ora windlass, or any other machine. ’Tis true that Garcilasso, when describ-ing the various pendants which they wore in their ears, mentions ringsas large “ as the frame of a pulley, for they were made in the form ofthose with which we draw up pitehersfrom a well, and of that compass, thatin case it were beaten straight, it would be a quarter of a yard long anda finger in thickness,” but in this passage we understand him to refer tothe Spanish method of drawing water ; and this is probable, for in anoth-er part of his work, when speaking of the large stones used in the publicbuildings at Cusco , he says the workmen had neither cranes nor pulleys.Still it is possible that he referred to the mode his countrymen employed.

There are conclusive proofs however, in some extracts that are too in-leresting to be omitted, that the ancient Peruvians were well acquaintedwith the management and distribution of water through pipes ; and olmaking and laying the latter; and what is singulär, both the sources ofthe water and the direction of the tubes under ground were kept secret,as was the custom with some people of Asia . “ In many of the houses(of the incas) were great cisterns of gold, in which they bathed themselves,

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