ature consisting of poetry, dramatic
compositions, and the like. Their scientific attainments were inferior
to the Mexican. Their year was divided into months, their months into
weeks. They had gnomons to indicate the solstices. One, in the form of
an obelisk, in the centre of a circle, on which was marked an east and
west line, indicated the equinox. These gnomons were destroyed by the
Spaniards in the belief that they were for idolatrous purposes, for on
the national festivals it was customary to decorate them with leaves and
flowers. As the national religion consisted in the worship of the Sun,
it was not without reason that Quito was regarded as a holy place, from
its position upon the equator.

[Sidenote: Agriculture carried to perfection.] In their extraordinary
provisions for agriculture, the national pursuit, the skill of the
Peruvians is well seen. A rapid elevation from the sea-level to the
heights of the mountains gave them, in a small compass, every variety of
climate, and they availed themselves of it. They terraced the mountain
sides, filling the terraces with rich earth. They excavated pits in the
sand, surrounded them with adobe walls, and filled them with manured
soil. On the low level they cultivated bananas and cassava; on the
terraces above, maize and quinoa; still higher, tobacco; and above that
the potato. From a comparatively limited surface, they raised great
crops by judiciously using manures, employing for that purpose fish, and
especially guano. Their example has led to the use of the latter
substance for a like purpose in our own times in Europe. The whole
civilized world has followed them in the cultivation of the potato. The
Peruvian bark is one of the most invaluable remedies. Large tracts of
North America would be almost uninhabitable without the use of its
active alkaloid quinine, which actually, in no insignificant manner,
reduces the percentage mortality throughout the United States.

[Sidenote: The great aqueduct of Condesuya.] Indispensably necessary to
their agricultural system were their great water-works. In Spain there
was nothing worthy of being compared with them. The aqueduct of
Condesuya was nearly 500 miles long. Its engineers had overcome
difficulties in a manner that might well strike modern times with
admiration. Its water was distributed as prescribed by law; there were
officers to see to its proper use. From these great water-works and from
their roads it may be judged