146

AMERICAN MINES.

CHAP. XXII.

towards civilization had been made. The countrywas divided into regular provinces, was subject toone chief who ruled them by his deputies, and whoby an hereditary right seemed to have exercised theoffices of magistrates and priests. Whatever rudeinstitutions existed were under their protection,and they were the sole possessors of that kind ofknowledge which, slight as it may be, was suf-ficient to keep the great body of the people in tran-quil submission to the power that was exercised.

When the Spaniards invaded the country, theopposition that was offered originated with theseprivileged classes, and they were the chief victimsof the conquest. The royal, the noble, and thepriestly families were almost wholly destroyed,either by the contests, or by the victors after allregular opposition had ceased. The mass of thepeople, though they had been thinned in theirnumbers by war and famine, still remained withoutany such diminution as could make a scarcity oflabourers. Though there was abundance of la-bourers, there was a want of inducements to labour.The soil supplied with little exertion the slightand inferior food they needed. Their clothingand their residences were of a description suitableto a climate where the severity of seasons is un-known. Their knowledge of the arts of life andtheir skill in the exercise of them had reachedonly the very lowest steps of improvement, andthose who had conducted them to that step were