oco. The country, overrun by rude
invaders, torn by civil war, and harried by "many simultaneous
tyrants," became semi-barbarous; "all was found in great confusion; life
and personal safety were endangered, and civil disturbances caused an
entire loss of the use of letters." The art of writing seems to have
been mixed up with the issues of a religious controversy in the time of
the old kingdom. It was proscribed now, even in the little state of
Tambotoco, for we read that the fourteenth of its twenty-six rulers
"prohibited, under the severest penalties, the use of _quellca_ for
writing, and forbade, also, the invention of letters. _Quellca_ was a
kind of parchment made of plantain leaves." It is added that an
_amauta_, who sought to restore the art of writing was put to death.
This period of decline, disorder, and disintegration, which covered the
"dark ages" of Peru, lasted until the rise of the Incas brought better
times and reunited the country.

Rocca, called Inca-Rocca, was the first of the Incas. He was connected
with the old royal family, but did not stand in the direct line of
succession. The story of his rise to power is told as follows: "A
princess of royal blood, named Mama-Ciboca, contrived, by artifice and
intrigue, to raise to the throne her son called Rocca, a youth of twenty
years, and so handsome and valiant that his admirers called him _Inca_,
which means lord. This title of _Inca_ began with him, and was adopted
by all his successors." He appears to have had great qualities as a
ruler. Not much time passed before he secured possession of Cuzco, made
war successfully against the neighboring princes, and greatly extended
his dominions. Under his successors, the empire thus begun continued to
grow, until it was extended from Quito to Chili, and became the Peruvian
empire which the Spaniards robbed and destroyed.

PROBABILITIES.

It has been the fashion to depreciate Montesinos, but I find it
impossible to discover the reasons by which this depreciation can be
justified. It is alleged that he uses fanciful hypotheses to explain
Peru. The reply to this seems to me conclusive. In the first place, he
is, in this respect, like all other writers of his time. That was an age
of fanciful theories. Montesinos is certainly no worse than others in
this respect, while he has the merit of being somewhat more original. He
brought the Peruvian civilization from Armenia, and argued that Peru was
Solomon's Ophir. Un