was one universal bridal jubilee throughout the empire. 48 The extraordinary regulations respecting marriage under the Incas are eminently characteristic of the genius of the government; which, far from limiting itself to matters of public concern, penetrated into the most private recesses of domestic life, allowing no man, however humble, to act for himself, even in those personal matters in which none but himself, or his family at most, might be supposed to be interested. No Peruvian was too low for the fostering vigilance of government. None was so high that he was not made to feel his dependence upon it in every act of his life. His very existence as an individual was absorbed in that of the community. His hopes and his fears, his joys and his sorrows, the nature, which would most naturally shrink from observation, were all to be regulated by law. He was not allowed even to be happy in his own way. The government of the Incas was the mildest, but the most searching, of despotisms. tenderest sympathies of his 48 Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., MS.-Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 36.-Dec. de la Aud. Real., MS.-Montesinos, Mem. antiguas, MS., lib. 2, cap. 6. [The precise nature of the Peruvian religion does not seem to have been much elucidated by the discussions it has undergone in recent years. The chief source of perplexity lies in the recognition of a Creator, or World-Deity, side by side with the adoration of the Sun as the presiding divinity and direct object of worship. Mr. Tylor speaks of this as a "rivalry full of interest in the history of barbaric religion;" and he takes the view that the Sun, originally "a subordinate God," "the divine ancestor of the Inca family," " by virtue of his nearer intercourse and power," gradually "usurped the place of the Supreme Deity." (Conf. Primitive Culture, 1st edition, vol. ii. p. 307, and 2d edition, vol. ii. p. 338.) But the facts cited in support of this theory are too slight or too questionable to form a sufficient basis for it. The reported speech of one of the later Incas, in which the doctrine that the Sun is "the maker of all things," or himself "a living thing," is condemned, and he is compared to " a beast who makes a daily round under the eye of a master," "an arrow which must go whither it is sent, not whither it wishes," may be regarded as, what Mr. Tylor indeed calls it, "a philosophic protest," and as nothing more. The forms of prayer collected by Molina from the lips of certain aged Indians, addressed conjointly to the Creator, the Sun, and the Thunder, prove, if any thing, that the supremacy of the first-mentioned person in this singular trinity was an article of that "state church" which, according to Mr. Tylor, organized the worship of the Sun and raised it to predominance. As to the statement, on Mr. Markham's authority, that the great temple at Cuzco was originally dedicated to Pachacamac, this seems to rest merely on a tradition related by Molina, which attributes the enlargement of the temple and the erection of a golden statue to the Creator to the same Inca who is represented as having denied the divinity of the Sun. In fact, the whole of this evidence better accords with the view taken by M. Desjardins, who considers the Inca referred to-Yupanqui according to most authorities-as having introduced the worship of Pachacamac at Cuzco, where before the Sun had been worshipped as the Supreme God. (Le Pérou avant la Conquête espagnol, p. 94.) "But these notions," he remarks, "of an immaterial, infinite, and eternal God could not easily penetrate the minds of the multitude, who adhered to their ancient superstitions." (Ibid., p. 103.) That the complex character of the Peruvian mythology proceeded chiefly from the union under one government of several different races, and the tolerance, and to some extent the adoption, by the conquerors of various local or tribal religions, is a point on which all who have given the subject any close investigation concur. (See Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 176, et al.) Hence the variety and conflicting character of the traditions, which cannot be constructed into a system, since they represent diverse and perhaps fluctuating conceptions.-ED.] CHAPTER IV. EDUCATION.—QUIPUS.— ASTRONOMY.—AGRICULTURE. AQUEDUCTS.—GUANO.—IMPORTANT ESCULENTS. "SCIENCE was not intended for the people; but for those of generous blood. Persons of low degree are only puffed up by it, and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should such meddle with the affairs of government; for this would bring high offices into disrepute, and cause detriment to the state. "" I Such was the favorite maxim, often repeated, of Tupac Inca Yupanqui, one of the most renowned of the Peruvian sovereigns. It may seem strange that such a maxim should ever have been proclaimed in the New World, where popular institutions have been established on a more extensive scale than was ever before witnessed; where government rests wholly on the people, and education -at least, in the great northern division of the continent—is mainly directed to qualify the people for the duties of government. Yet this maxim was strictly conformable to the genius of the Peruvian monarchy, and may serve as a key to its habitual policy; since, "No es licito, que enseñen à los hijos de los Plebeios, las Ciencias, que pertenescen à los Generosos, y no mas; porque como Gente baja, no se eleven, y ensobervezcan, y menoscaben, y apoquen la Republica: bastales, que aprendan los Oficios de sus Padres; que el Mandar, y Governar no es de Plebeios, que es hacer agravio al Oficio, y à la Republica, encomendarsela à Gente comun." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 8. while it watched with unwearied solicitude over its subjects, provided for their physical necessities, was mindful of their morals, and showed, throughout, the affectionate concern of a parent for his children, it yet regarded them only as children, who were never to emerge from the state of pupilage, to act or to think for themselves, but whose whole duty was comprehended in the obligation of implicit obedience. Such was the humiliating condition of the people under the Incas, while the numerous families of the blood royal enjoyed the benefit of all the light of education which the civilization of the country could afford, and long after the Conquest the spots continued to be pointed out where the seminaries had existed for their instruction. These were placed under the care of the amautas, or "wise men," who engrossed the scanty stock of science-if science it could be called -possessed by the Peruvians, and who were the sole. teachers of youth. It was natural that the monarch should take a lively interest in the instruction of the young nobility, his own kindred. Several of the Peruvian princes are said to have built their palaces in the neighborhood of the schools, in order that they might the more easily visit them and listen to the lectures of the amautas, which they occasionally re-enforced by a homily of their own. In these schools the royal pupils were instructed in all the different kinds of knowledge in which their teachers were versed, with 2 Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 10.-The descendant of the Incas notices the remains, visible in his day, of two of the palaces of his royal ancestors, which had been built in the vicinity of the schools, for more easy access to them. especial reference to the stations they were to occupy in after-life. They studied the laws, and the principles of administering the government, in which many of them were to take part. They were initiated in the peculiar rites of their religion most necessary to those who were to assume the sacerdotal functions. They learned also to emulate the achievements of their royal ancestors by listening to the chronicles compiled by the amautas. They were taught to speak their own dialect with purity and elegance; and they became acquainted with the mysterious science of the quipus, which supplied the Peruvians with the means of communicating their ideas to one another, and of transmitting them to future generations.3 The quipu was a cord about two feet long, composed of different-colored threads tightly twisted together, from which a quantity of smaller threads were suspended in the manner of a fringe. The threads were of different colors, and were tied into knots. The word quipu, indeed, signifies a knot. The colors denoted sensible objects; as, for instance, white represented silver, and yellow, gold. They sometimes also stood for abstract ideas. Thus, white signified peace, and red, war. But the quipus were chiefly used for arithmetical purposes. The knots served instead of ciphers, and could be combined in such a manner as to represent numbers to any amount they required. By means of these they went through their calculations with great rapidity, and the Spaniards who first visited the country bear testimony to their accuracy.^ 3 Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 19. 4 Conquista i Poblacion del Piru, MS. - Sarmiento, Relacion, |