more common than any other
metal. Temples and palaces were covered with it, and it was very
beautifully wrought into ornaments, temple furniture, articles for
household use, and imitations of almost every object in nature. In the
course of twenty-five years after the Conquest, the Spaniards sent from
Peru to Spain more than four hundred million ducats (800,000,000
dollars) worth of gold, all or nearly all of it having been taken from
the subjugated Peruvians as "booty."

Figures 67 and 68 show a golden and a silver vase, reduced from the
actual size. Figures 69 and 70 represent various articles of pottery;
all these illustrations are copies from articles taken from old Peruvian
tombs.

[Illustration: Fig. 67.--Golden Vase.]

[Illustration: Fig. 68.--Silver Vase.]

The most perfectly manufactured articles of Peruvian pottery were used
in the tombs. Some of those made for other uses were very curious. A
considerable number of articles made for common use have been preserved.
Mariano Rivero, a Peruvian, says: "At this day there exist in many
houses pitchers, large jars, and earthen pots of this manufacture, which
are preferred for their solidity to those manufactured by our own
potters." The ancient Peruvians were inferior to the Central Americans
in the arts of ornamentation and sculpture.

[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Articles of Pottery.]

[Illustration: Fig. 70.--Articles of Pottery.]

Science among the Peruvians was not very highly developed, but
engineering skill of some kind is indicated by the great roads and
aqueducts. Their knowledge of the art of preparing colors and certain
useful medicines implied a study of plants. Their progress in astronomy
was not equal to that found in Central America; nevertheless, they had
an accurate measure of the solar year, but, unlike the Central
Americans, they divided the year into twelve months, and they used
mechanical contrivances successfully to fix the times of the solstices
and equinoxes. A class of men called _amautas_ was trained to preserve
and teach whatever knowledge existed in the country. It was their
business to understand the _quippus_, keep in memory the historical
poems, give attention to the science and practice of medicine, and train
their pupils in knowledge. These were not priests; they were the
"learned men" of Peru, and the government allowed them every facility
for study and for communicating instruction. How much they knew of
astronomy it is not eas