ld Almagro now declared his son, of the same name, their viceroy. But the greater part of the nation, though extremely well satisfied with the fate of Pizarro, did not concur with this declaration. They waited the orders of the emperor Charles V. then king of Spain, who sent over Vaca di Castro to be their governor. This man, by his integrity and wisdom, was admirably well fitted to heal the wounds of the colony, and to place every thing on the most advantageous footing, both for it and for the mother country. By his prudent management, the mines of La Plata and Potosi, which were formerly private plunder, became an object of public utility to the court of Spain. The parties were silenced or crushed; young Almagro, who would hearken to no terms of accommodation, was put to death; and a tranquillity, since the arrival of the Spaniards unknown, was restored to Peru. It seems, however, that Castro had not been sufficiently skilled in gaining the favour of the Spanish ministry by proper bribes or promises, which a ministry would always expect from the governor of so rich a country. By their advice a council was sent over to control Castro, and the colony was again unsettled. The party spirit, but just extinguished, began to blaze anew; and Gonzalo, the brother of the famous Pizarro, set himself at the head of his brother's partisans, with whom many new malcontents had united. It was now no longer a dispute between governors about the bounds of their jurisdiction. Gonzalo Pizarro only paid a nominal submission to the king. He strengthened daily, and even went so far as to behead a governor, who was sent over to curb him. He gained the confidence of the admiral of the Spanish fleet in the South Seas, by whose means he proposed to hinder the landing of any troops from Spain; and he had a view of uniting the inhabitants of Mexico in his revolt.

Such was the situation of affairs; when the court of Spain, sensible of their mistake, in not sending into America men whose character and virtue only, and not opportunity and cabal, pleaded in their behalf, dispatched, with unlimited powers, Peter de la Gasca, a man differing from Castro only by being of a more mild and insinuating behaviour, but with the same love of justice, the same greatness of soul, and the same disinterested spirit. All those who had not joined in Pizarro's revolt flocked to his standard; many of his friends, charmed with the behaviour of Gasca, forsook their old connections; the admiral was gained over by insinuation to return to his duty; and Pizarro himself offered a full indemnity, provided he would return to the allegiance of the Spanish crown. But so intoxicating are the ideas of royalty, that Pizarro was inclined to run every hazard, rather than submit to any officer of Spain. With those of his partisans, therefore, who still continued to adhere to his interest, he determined to venture a battle, in which he was conquered and taken prisoner. His execution followed soon after; and thus the brother of him who conquered Peru for the crown of Spain fell a sacrifice for the security of the Spanish dominion over that country.

The conquest of the great empires of Mexico and Peru is the only part of the American history which deserves to be treated under the present head. What relates to the reduction of the other parts of the continent or of the islands, if it contains either instruction or entertainment, shall be recorded under these particular countries. We now proceed to treat of the manners, government, religion, and whatever composes the character of the natives of America; and as these are extremely similar all over this part of the globe, we shall speak of them

When the thirst of gold carried the inhabitants of Europe Atlantic, they found the inhabitants of the new world immer they called barbarism; but which, however, was a state of h pendence, and noble simplicity. Except the inhabitants of empires of Peru and Mexico, who, comparatively speaking, nations, the natives of America were unacquainted with al European art; even agriculture itself, the most useful of the hardly known, or cultivated very sparingly. The only metho they depended for acquiring the necessaries of life was by h wild animals, which their mountains and forests supplied in g dance. This exercise, which among them is a most serious o gives a strength and agility to their limbs, unknown among tions. The same cause, perhaps, renders their bodies, in gener the rays of the sun are not too violent, uncommonly straight

proportioned. Their muscles are firm and strong; their b heads flattish, which is the effect of art; their features are res

their countenances fierce; their hair long, black, lank, and as that of a horse. The colour of their skin is a reddish br mired among them, and heightened by the constant use of bear paint. The character of the Indians is altogether founded u circumstances and way of life. A people who are constantly e in procuring the means of a precarious subsistence, who live by the wild animals, and who are generally engaged in war w flow of spirits. The Indians, therefore, are, in general, grave

sadness; they have nothing of that giddy vivacity peculiar to s

tions in Europe, and they despise it. Their behaviour them is regular, modest, and respectful. Ignorant of the

ment, of which that of saying trifles agreeably is one of the most considerable, they never speak but when they have something important to observe, and all their actions, words, and even looks, are attended with some meaning. This is extremely natural to men who are almost continually engaged in pursuits which to them are of the highest importance. Their subsistence depends entirely on what they procure with their hands; and their lives, their honour, and every thing dear to them, may be lost by the smallest inattention to the designs of their enemies. As they have no particular object to attach them to one place rather than another, they fly wherever they expect to find the necessaries of life in greatest abundance. Cities, which are the effects of agriculture and arts, they have none. The different tribes or nations are, for the same reason, extremely small, when compared with civilised societies, in which industry, arts, agriculture, and commerce, have united a vast number of individuals, whom a complicated luxury renders useful to one another. These small tribes live at an immense distance; they are separated by a desert frontier, and hid in the bosom of impenetrable and almost boundless forests.

There is established in each society a certain species of government, which over the whole continent of America prevails with very little variation; because over the whole of this continent the manners and way of life are nearly similar and uniform. Without arts, riches, or luxury, the great instruments of subjection in polished societies, an American has no method by which he can render himself considerable among his companions, but by a superiority in personal qualities of body or mind. But as nature has not been very lavish in her personal distinctions, where all enjoy the same education, all are nearly equal, and will desire to remain so. Liberty, therefore, is the prevailing passion of the Americans, and their government, under the influence of this sentiment, is better secured than by the wisest political regulations. They are very far, however, from despising all sorts of authority; they are attentive to the voice of wisdom, which experience has conferred on the aged; and they enlist under the banners of the chief, in whose valour and military address they have learned to repose their confidence. In every society, therefore, there is to be considered the power of the chief and of the elders: and according as the government inclines more to the one or to the other, it may be regarded as monarchical, or as a species of aristocracy. Among those tribes which are most engaged in war, the power of the chief is naturally predominant, because the idea of having a military leader was the first source of his superiority, and, the continual exigencies of the state requiring such a leader, will continue to support and even to ephance it. His power, however, is rather persuasive than coercive; he is reverenced as a father, rather than feared as a monarch. He has no guards, no prisons, no officers of justice; and one act of illjudged violence would deprive him of the throne. The elders, in the other form of government, which may be considered as an aristocracy, have no more power. In some tribes, indeed, there are a kind of hereditary nobility, whose influence being constantly augmented by time is more considerable. But this source of power, which depends chiefly on the imagination, by which we annex to the merit of our contemporaries that of their forefathers, is too refined to be very common among the natives of America. In most countries, therefore, age alone is sufficient for acquiring respect, influence, and authority. It is age which teaches experience, and experience is the only source of knowledge among a

utmost simplicity, and such as may recall to those who a with antiquity a picture of the most early ages. The hea meet together in a house or cabin appointed for the purpo business is discussed, and here those of the nation dist their eloquence or wisdom have an opportunity of display Jents. Their orators, like those of Hømer, express thems figurative style, stronger than refined or rather softened na bear, and with gestures equally violent, but often extreme expressive. When the business is over, and they happ provided in food, they appoint a feast upon the occasion, of the whole nation partakes. The feast is accompanied w which the real or fabulous exploits of their forefathers a They have dances too, though, like those of the Greeks chiefly of the military kind; and their music and dancin every feast.

It often happens, that those different tribes or nations, they are at an immense distance from one another, meet in sions after prey. If there subsists no animosity between seldom is the case, they behave in the most friendly and co ner. But if they happen to be in a state of war, or if th no previous intercourse between them, all who are not 1 deemed enemies, they fight with the most savage fury.

War, if we except hunting, is the only enployment of i to every other concern, and even the little agriculture they to the women. Their most common motive for entering when it does not arise from an accidental rencounter or inte either to revenge themselves for the death of some lost frier quire prisoners, who may assist them in their hunting, and adopt into their society. These wars are either undertak private adventurers, or at the instance of the whole comn the latter case, all the young men who are disposed to go ou for no one is compelled contrary to his inclination, give a pie to the chief, as a token of their design to accompany him: thing among these people is transacted with a great deal of and many forms. The chief who is to conduct them fasts se during which he converses with no one, and is particularly observe his dreams, which the presumption natural to savages renders as favourable as he could desire. A variety of othe tions and ceremonies are observed. One of the most hideous the war-kettle on the fire, as an emblem that they are going vour their enemies; which among some nations must formerly the case, since they still continue to express it in clear term an emblem significant of the ancient usage. Then they dispat celane, or large shell, to their allies, inviting them to come drink the blood of their enemies. For with the Americans, as Greeks of old,

"A generous friendship no cold medium knows,
"Burns with one love, with one resentment glows."

They think that those in their alliance must not only adopt the ties, but have their resentment wound up to the same pitch wi selves. And, indeed, no people carry their friendships or thei ments so far as they do: and this is what should be expected fr peculiar circumstances: that principle in human nature, whi

spring of the social affections, acts with so much the greater force the more it is restrained. The Americans, who live in small societies, who see few objects and few persons, become wonderfully attached to these objects and persons, and cannot be deprived of them without feeling themselves miserable. Their ideas are too confined, their breasts are too narrow to entertain the sentiment of general benevolence, or even of ordinary humanity. But this very circumstance, while it makes them cruel to an incredible degree towards those with whom they are at war, adds a new force to their particular friendships, and to the common tie which unites the members of the same tribe, or those different tribes which are in alliance with one another. Without attending to this reflection, some facts we are going to relate would excite our wonder, without informing our reason, and we should be bewildered in a number of particulars seemingly opposite to one another, without being sensible of the general cause from which they proceed.

Having finished all the ceremonies previous to the war, they issue forth, with their faces blackened with charcoal, intermixed with streaks of vermilion, which give them a most horrid appearance. Then they exchange their clothes with their friends, and dispose of all their finery to the women, who accompany them a considerable distance, to receive those last tokens of eternal friendship.

The great qualities in an Indian warrior are vigilance and attention, to give and to avoid a surprise; and indeed in these they are superior to all nations in the world. Accustomed to continual wandering in the forests, having their perceptions sharpened by keen necessity, and living in every respect according to nature, their external senses have a degree of acuteness which at first appears incredible. They can trace out their enemies, at an immense distance, by the smoke of their fires, which they smell, and by the tracks of their feet on the ground, imperceptible to an European eye, but which they can count and distinguish with the utmost facility. They even distinguish the different nations with whom they are acquainted, and can determine the precise time when they passed, where an European could not, with all his glasses, distinguish footsteps at all. These circumstances, however, give them no superiority, because their enemies are equally skilful. When they go out, therefore, they take care to avoid making use of any thing by which they might run the danger of a discovery. They light no fire to warm themselves, or to prepare their victuals: they lie close to the ground all day, and travel only in the night; and marching along in files, he that closes the rear diligently covers with leaves the tracks of his own feet and of theirs who preceded him. When they halt to refresh themselves, scouts are sent out to reconnoitre the country, and beat up every place where they suspect an enemy may lie concealed. In this manner they enter unawares the villages of their foes; and, while the flower of the nation are engaged in hunting, massacre all the children, women, and helpless old men, or make prisoners of as many as they can manage, or have strength enough to be useful to their nation. But when the enemy is apprised of their design, and coming on in arms against them, they throw themselves flat on the ground among the withered herbs and leaves, which their faces are painted to resemble. Then they allow a part to pass unmolested; when all at once, with a tremendous shout, rising up from their ambush, they pour a storm of musquet-bullets on their foes. The party attacked returns the same cry. Every one shelters himself with a tree, and returns the fire of the adverse party, as