172
[Book I.
marks: “ what pleased me most, was a collection of Peruvian vases; apolished stone which served the incas for a mirror; and a linen nrnntle,which formerly adorned their copper colored shoulders, as finely wovenas a shawl, and flowered in very nearly a similar manner; the colors asfresh and vivid as if new.” Vol. ii, 211.
It is difficult after perusing the history of this interesting people, to re-concile the state of the arts among them at the Spanish invasion, with theopinion, that Manco Capac arrived from Asia at so late a period as the12th Century. If he was the enterprising and intelligent man that he isrepresented to have been, and there is every reason to believe he was, itis impossible that as an Adatic, he could have been ignorant of the saw,the auger, files, of fitting wooden handles to hammers, of nails, scissors,the crane, windlass, pulley, the arch, iron, &c : or having a knowledge ofthese things, that he should not have introduced them, or at least some ofthem. But if the Peruvians were also ignorant of the swape, noria,or chain of pots, the objections to such an opinion are greatly strengthen-ed. From what part of the eastern world could such a man have comewithout having a knowledge of these machines, and yet be acquainted, ashe was, with all the essential features of oriental agriculture 1 Machinestoo, of the utmost importance in Peru , where rain was generally unknown,and water scarce and valuable as in Egypt itself—and machines morenecessary than any other, in furthering the objects he had in view.While a doubt remains respecting their employment, we should sup-pose that he really was, as surmised by Grarcilasso, a zvative, who bythe superiority of his understanding, and by a subtile deportment (the moreeffectually to carry out his measures) persuaded the people that he camefrom the sun. Indeed, the state of the useful arts generally among themin the 15th Century, implies that they had not had any permanent Connec-tion with Asiatics for many ages ; but that they were gradually recoveringa knowledge of the arts, which in very remote times had been practisedby nations then extinct; and hence the paucity of their tools and the'peculiarity of some of their devices, as their . quippus or historical cords,their modes of computation, &c. Moreover, neither the Mexicans norPeruvians had reduced the lower animals to subjection, at any rate notfor agricultural purposes; and though they had neither the horse, the ass,nor ox ; yet the former had the buffalo, an animal that has been usedfrom the remotest ages to plough the soil. This circumstance alone issufficient to show that they did not derive their knowledge of agriculturefrom Asia , within the time generally supposed, if at all.
Who can reflect on the civilized people, that in remote ages inhabitedthese continents, without mourning over their extinction, and the loss ofevery record respecting them ? A people, whose very existence wouldhave been unknown, had not some relics of their labors (like the orgamcremains of animals whose species are extinct) yet resisted the corrodingeffects of time. When we examine the ruins of their temples, their eitles,and other monuments of their progress in the arts, our disappointmentamounts to distress, that the veil which conceals them, is not, and perhapscannot be removed. Strange as it may appear, we are almost as ignorantof the mysterious Palenque, and hundreds of other cities, equally andsome of them perhaps much more ancient—as of the builders of Babe]-^-and we know about as little of their early inhabitants as if they had beenlocated on another planet.
END OF THE FIRST BOOK.