ffered, but only sweet-scented flowers and gums.
[Sidenote: Their monotheism and philosophical sentiments.] The
prevailing religious feeling is expressed by the sentiments of one of
the kings, many of whom had prided themselves in their poetical skill:
"Let us," he says, "aspire to that heaven where all is eternal, and
where corruption never comes." He taught his children not to confide in
idols, but only to conform to the outward worship of them in deference
to public opinion.

[Sidenote: Peru--unknown to Mexico.] To the preceding description of the
social condition of Mexico I shall add a similar brief account of that
of Peru, for the conclusions to be drawn from a comparison of the
spontaneous process of civilization in these two countries with the
process in Europe is of importance to the attainment of a just idea of
the development of mankind. The most competent authorities declare that
the Mexicans and Peruvians were ignorant of each other's existence.

[Sidenote: Its geographical peculiarities.] In one particular especially
is the position of Peru interesting. It presents an analogy to Upper
Egypt, that cradle of the civilization of the Old World, in this, that
its sandy coast is a rainless district. This sandy-coast region is about
sixty miles in width, hemmed in on the east by grand mountain ranges,
which diminish in size on approaching the Isthmus of Panama; the entire
length of the Peruvian empire having been nearly 2,400 miles, it reached
from the north of the equator to what is now known as Chili. In breadth
it varied at different points. [Sidenote: A rainless country like
Egypt.] The east wind, which has crossed the Atlantic, and is therefore
charged with humidity, being forced by the elevation of the South
American continent, and especially by the range of the Andes, upward, is
compelled to surrender most of its moisture, which finds its way back to
the Atlantic in those prodigious rivers that make the country east of
the Andes the best watered region of the world; but as soon as that wind
has crossed the mountain ridge and descends on the western slope, it
becomes a dry and rainless wind, and hence the district intervening to
the Pacific has but a few insignificant streams. [Sidenote: Its system
of agriculture.] The sides of this great mountain range might seem
altogether unadapted to the pursuit of agriculture, but the state of
Peruvian civilization is at once demonstrated when it is said that these
mo