o would have been glad to have the
recollection of ghosts totally banished from his mind, "I's oftin hear
ob de Incas, but I knows not'ing about dem. Who is dey? whar dey come
fro?"

"It would take a long time, Quashy, to answer these two questions fully;
nevertheless, I think I could give you a roughish outline of a notion in
about five minutes, if you'll promise not to stare so hard, and keep
your mouth shut."

The negro shut his eyes, expanded his mouth to its utmost in a silent
laugh, and nodded his head acquiescently.

"Well, then, you must know," said Pedro, "that in days of old--about the
time that William the Conqueror invaded England--a certain Manco Capac
founded the dynasty of the Incas. According to an old legend this Manco
was the son of a white man who was shipwrecked on the coast of Peru. He
married the daughter of an Indian chief, and taught the people
agriculture, architecture, and other arts. He must have been a man of
great power, from the influence he exerted over the natives, who styled
him the `blooming stranger.' His hair was of a golden colour, and this
gave rise to the story that he was a child of the sun, who had been sent
to rule over the Indians and found an empire. Another tradition says
that Manco Capac was accompanied by a wife named Mama Oello Huaco, who
taught the Indian women the mysteries of spinning and weaving, while her
husband taught the arts of civilisation to the men.

"Whatever truth there may be in these legends, certain it is that Manco
Capac did become the first of a race of Incas--or kings or chiefs--and,
it is said, laid the foundations of the city of Cuzco, the remains of
which at the present day show the power, splendour, and wealth to which
Manco Capac and his successors attained. The government of the Incas
was despotic, but of a benignant and patriarchal type, which gained the
affections of those over whom they ruled, and enabled them to extend
their sway far and wide over the land, so that, at the time of the
invasion by the Spaniards under Pizarro, the Peruvians were found to
have reached a high degree of civilisation, as was seen by their public
works--roads, bridges, terrace-gardens, fortifications, and magnificent
buildings, and so forth. It is said by those who have studied the
matter, that this civilisation existed long before the coming of the
Incas. On this point I can say nothing, but no doubt or uncertainty
rests on the later history of this rac