boldt says that
they were among the most useful and most stupendous executed by the hand
of man. The reader need scarcely be told that there were no such
triumphs of skill in Spain. From the circumstance that there were no
swift animals, as the horse or dromedary, the width of these roads was
sufficient, since they were necessarily used for foot passage alone.

[Sidenote: Cuzco--the military centre.] In Cuzco, the metropolis, was
the imperial residence of the Inca and the Temple of the Sun. It
contained edifices which excited the amazement of the Spanish
adventurers themselves--streets, squares, bridges, fortresses surrounded
by turreted walls, subterranean galleries by which the garrison could
reach important parts of the town. Indeed, the great roads we have
spoken of might be regarded as portions of an immense system of military
works spread all over the country, and having their centre at Cuzco.

[Sidenote: The Inca--the Lord of the Empire.] The imperial dignity was
hereditary, descending from father to son. As in Egypt, the monarch not
unfrequently had his sisters for wives. His diadem consisted of a
scarlet tasseled fringe round his brow, adorned with two feathers. He
wore earrings of great weight. His dress of lama-wool was dyed scarlet,
inwoven with gold and studded with gems. Whoever approached him bore a
light burden on the shoulder as a badge of servitude, and was barefoot.
The Inca was not only the representative of the temporal, but also of
the spiritual power. He was more than supreme pontiff, for he was a
descendant of the Sun, the god of the nation. He made laws, imposed
taxes, raised armies, appointed or removed judges at his pleasure. He
travelled in a sedan ornamented with gold and emeralds; the roads were
swept before him, strewn with flowers, and perfumed. [Sidenote: The
national palace.] His palace at Yucay was described by the Spaniards as
a fairy scene. It was filled with works of Indian art; images of animals
and plants decorated the niches of its walls; it had an endless
labyrinth of gorgeous chambers, and here and there shady crypts for
quiet retirement. Its baths were great golden bowls. It was embosomed in
artificial forests. The imperial ladies and concubines spent their time
in beautifully furnished chambers, or in gardens, with cascades and
fountains, grottoes and bowers. It was in what few countries can boast
of, a temperate region in the torrid zone.

[Sidenote: Religion of Peru, its