to the character and condition of the people! The monuments of China, of Hindostan, and of Central America are all indicative of an immature period, in which the imagination has not been disciplined by study, and which, therefore, in its best results, betrays only the ill-regulated aspirations after the beautiful, that belong to a semi-civilized people.

The Peruvian architecture, bearing also the general characteristics of an imperfect state of refinement, had still its peculiar character; and so uniform was that character that the edifices throughout the country seem to have been all cast in the same mould."

They were

usually built of porphyry or granite; not unfrequently of brick. This, which was formed into blocks or squares of much larger dimensions than our brick, was made of a tenacious earth mixed up with reeds or tough grass, and acquired a degree of hardness with age that made it insensible alike to the storms and the more trying sun of the tropics.26 The walls were of great thickness, but low, seldom reaching to more than twelve or fourteen feet in height. It is rare to meet with accounts of a building that rose to a second story."

25 It is the observation of Humboldt. 'Il est impossible d'examiner attentivement un seul édifice du temps des Incas, sans reconnoître le même type dans tous les autres qui couvrent le dos des Andes, sur une longueur de plus de quatre cent cinquante lieues, depuis mille jusqu'à quatre mille mètres d'élévation au-dessus du niveau de l'Océan. On dirait qu'un seul architecte a construit ce grand nombre de monumens." Vues des Cordillères, p. 197.

26 Ulloa, who carefully examined these bricks, suggests that there must have been some secret in their composition,-so superior in many respects to our own manufacture,-now lost. Not. Amer., ent.

20.

27 Ibid., ubi supra.

The apartments had no communication with one another, but usually opened into a court; and, as they were unprovided with windows, or apertures that served for them, the only light from without must have been admitted by the doorways. These were made with the sides approaching each other towards the top, so that the lintel was considerably narrower than the threshold, a peculiarity, also, in Egyptian architecture. The roofs have, for the most part, disappeared with time. Some few survive in the less ambitious edifices, of a singular bell-shape, and made of a composition of earth and pebbles. They are supposed, however, to have been generally formed of more perishable materials, of wood or straw. It is certain that some of the most considerable stone buildings were thatched with straw. Many seem to have been constructed without the aid of cement; and writers have contended that the Peruvians were unacquainted with the use of mortar, or cement of any kind. 28 But a close, tenacious mould, mixed with lime, may be discovered filling up the interstices of the granite in some buildings; and in others, where the well-fitted blocks leave no room for this coarser material, the eye of the antiquary has

28 Among others, see Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15.—Robertson, History of America (London, 1796), vol. iii. p. 213.

* [According to Mr. Markham, the palaces of the Incas "had small square windows, and deep recesses of the same size, at intervals;" and he adds, "It has been stated that the ancient Peruvian buildings had no windows. This is a mistake. Amongst other instances, I may mention the occurrence of one in the palace of the Colcampata, at Cuzco." Cieza de Leon, Eng. trans., Introduction, p. xxix. See also Rivero, Antiquities of Peru, p. 233.—ED.]

detected a fine bituminous glue, as hard as the rock itself."9

The greatest simplicity is observed in the construction of the buildings, which are usually free from outward ornament; though in some the huge stones are shaped into a convex form with great regularity, and adjusted with such nice precision to one another that it would be impossible, but for the flutings, to determine the line of junction. In others the stone is rough, as it was taken from the quarry, in the most irregular forms, with the edges nicely wrought and fitted to each other. There is no appearance of columns or of arches; though there is some contradiction as to the latter point. But it is not to be doubted that, although they may have made some approach to this mode of construction by the greater or less inclination of the walls, the Peruvian architects were wholly unacquainted with the true principle of the circular arch reposing on its key-stone. 3o

29 Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., MS.-Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21.-Humboldt, who analyzed the cement of the ancient structures at Cannar, says that it is a true mortar, formed of a mixture of pebbles and a clayey marl. (Vues des Cordillères, p. 116.) Father Velasco is in raptures with an "almost imperceptible kind of cement" made of lime and a bituminous substance resembling glue, which incorporated with the stones so as to hold them firmly together like one solid mass, yet left nothing visible to the eye of the common observer. This glutinous composition, mixed with pebbles, made a sort of macadamized road much used by the Incas, as hard and almost as smooth as marble. Hist. de Quito, tom. i. pp. 126-128.

30 Condamine, Mém. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de Berlin, tom. ii. p. 448.-Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, MS.-Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 4.—Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 14.—Ulloa, Voyage to South America, vol. i. p. 469.—Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., MS.

The architecture of the Incas is characterized, says an eminent traveller, "by simplicity, symmetry, and solidity." It may seem unphilosophical to condemn the peculiar fashion of a nation as indicating want of taste, because its standard of taste differs from our Yet there is an incongruity in the composition. of the Peruvian buildings which argues a very imperfect acquaintance with the first principles of architecture. While they put together their bulky masses of porphyry and granite with the nicest art, they were incapable of mortising their timbers, and, in their ignorance of iron, knew no better way of holding the beams together than tying them with thongs of maguey. In the same incongruous spirit, the building that was thatched with straw and unilluminated by a window was glowing with tapestries of gold and silver! These are the inconsistencies of a rude people, among whom the arts are but partially developed. It might not be difficult to find. examples of like inconsistency in the architecture and domestic arrangements of our Anglo-Saxon and, at a still later period, of our Norman ancestors.

Yet the buildings of the Incas were accommodated to the character of the climate, and were well fitted to resist those terrible convulsions which belong to the land of volcanoes. The wisdom of their plan is attested by the number which still survive, while the more modern constructions of the Conquerors have been buried in ruins. The hand of the Conquerors, indeed, has fallen heavily on these venerable monuments, and, in

"Simplicité, symétrie, et solidité, voilà les trois caractères pai lesquels se distinguent avantageusement tous les édifices péruviens." Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 115.

14*

32

their blind and superstitious search for hidden treasure, has caused infinitely more ruin than time or the earthquake. Yet enough of these monuments still remain to invite the researches of the antiquary. Those only in the most conspicuous situations have been hitherto examined. But, by the testimony of travellers, many more are to be found in the less frequented parts of the country; and we may hope they will one day call forth a kindred spirit of enterprise to that which has so suc

The anonymous author of the Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, MS., gives us, at second hand, one of those golden traditions which, in early times, fostered the spirit of adventure. The tradition, in this instance, he thinks well entitled to credit. The reader will judge for himself.

"It is a well-authenticated report, and generally received, that there is a secret hall in the fortress of Cuzco, where an immense treasure is concealed, consisting of the statues of all the Incas, wrought in gold. A lady is still living, Doña Maria de Esquivel, the wife of the last Inca, who has visited this hall, and I have heard her relate the way in which she was carried to see it.

"Don Carlos, the lady's husband, did not maintain a style of living becoming his high rank. Doña Maria sometimes reproached him, declaring that she had been deceived into marrying a poor Indian under the lofty title of Lord or Inca. She said this so frequently that Don Carlos one night exclaimed, 'Lady! do you wish to know whether I am rich or poor? You shall see that no lord nor king in the world has a larger treasure than I have.' Then, covering her eyes with a handkerchief, he made her turn round two or three times, and, taking her by the hand, led her a short distance before he removed the bandage. On opening her eyes, what was her amazement! She had gone not more than two hundred paces, and descended a short flight of steps, and she now found herself in a large quadrangular hall, where, ranged on benches round the walls, she beheld the statues of the Incas, each of the size of a boy twelve years old, all of massive gold! She saw also many vessels of gold and silver. 'In fact,' she said, 'it was one of the most magnificent treasures in the whole world !'''