the
people as part of the empire. They called their domains
grandiloquently "the four quarters of the earth." They did not govern
this great territory by brute force as did the Aztecs--although they
knew how to use the sword if necessary--but by methods dictated by
prudent and profound policy, productive of peaceful success. The mild
government of the Incas was at once patriarchal, theocratic and
despotic. Whatever it was, from the Incas' point of view it was
absolute and satisfactory.

Prescott's account of the Inca civilization reads like a romance, yet
it is practically borne out by all chroniclers who have discussed the
subject, some of whom appear to desire to find the great American
historian at fault. Large and populous cities existed, communication
between which was had by great national roads traversing every part of
the land. Vast herds of llamas were domesticated, from the hair of
which the exquisitely woven cloth was made. Agriculture flourished.
The country, upraised from the sea by the great range of mountains,
afforded every variety of {70} climate from temperate to tropic, and
the diversified products of the soil corresponded with the
opportunities presented. And every foot of space was utilized for a
population of millions of industrious workers, with an economy and
resourcefulness only emulated by the Chinese in the working of their
country. Even the mountain-sides were terraced by tiny farms.

The Peruvians had made some progress in the arts, less in science.
They lacked the art of writing, although they possessed a highly
developed system of mnemonic aids in the form of curiously knotted and
particolored strings called quipus. Their literature, if the
contradiction be permitted, was handed down like their history, by oral
tradition.

Great as had been their achievements, however, they were in a curious
state of arrested development. With the Peruvians, says Helps,
"everything stopped short." They had not arrived at a finality
anywhere, save perhaps in their mode of government. They could erect
enormous time-defying buildings, but they knew of no way to roof them
except by thatching them. Their roads were marvels of engineering
construction, but they could not build bridges except frail ones made
out of osier cables. No wheels ran along the smooth, well-paved,
magnificent highways. They could refine gold and silver and make
weapons of tempered copper, but they were entirely ignoran