of veneration to the figures of several animals and vegetables that had a place in their temples. These were generally the images brought from the conquered nations, where the people worshipped all sorts of creatures, animate or inanimate, it being the custom when a province was subdued, to remove all their idols to the temple of the Sun at Cuzco.

Exclusive of the solemnities at every full moon, four grand festivals were celebrated annually. The first of those, called Raznic, was held in the month of June, immediately after the summer solstice, and was kept not only in honor of the Sun, but of their first

Inca, Manco Capac, and Mama Oello, his wife and sister, whom the Incas considered as their first parents, descended immediately from the Sun, and sent by him into the world to reform and polish mankind. At this festival all the viceroys, generals, governors and nobility, were assembled at the capital city of Cuzco; and the emperor, or Inca, officiated in person as high priest, though on other occasions the sacerdotal function was discharged by the regular pontiff, who was, usually, either the uncle or brother of the Inca.

The morning of the festival being come, the Inca, accompanied by his near relations, drawn up in order according to their seniority, went barefoot in procession at break of day to the market-place, where they remained looking attentively towards the east in expectation of the rising sun. The luminary no sooner appeared, than they fell prostrate on their faces in the most profound veneration, and universally acknowledged him to be their god and father.

The vassal princes, and nobility that were not of the royal blood, assembled in another square, and performed the like ceremony. Out of a large flock of sheep the priests then chose a black lamb, which they offered in sacrifice, first turning its head towards the east. From the entrails of the victim, on this occasion, they drew prognostics relating to peace and war and other public events.

That the Peruvians believed in the immortality of the soul, appears from the practice of the Incas, who constantly taught the people, that on leaving this world they should enter into a state of happiness provided for them by their god and father, the Sun.

It appears that the Peruvians had a marriage ceremony, and the marriage obligation was faithfully observed.

Notwithstanding the mild character of the Peruvian laws and religion, there was one custom that marked a barbarous state of society. On the death of the Inca, or any great chief, a number of his vassals, in one instance amounting to a thousand, were interred with him, so that he might be served with proper dignity in the other world. There were, also, deposited a portion of his wealth, and many precious and useful articles destined for his use. The opening of these huacas, or tombs, has often proved a great prize to European adventurers; and in one instance, there was found a treasure of gold amounting to no less than 700,000 dollars.

The Peruvians indicated their belief in the immortality of the soul, not only by their burials, but by catacombs secured by enduring structures of stone. In the province of Chapapogas, are still to be found conical mausolea, which, as well on account of the solidity of the materials, as the inaccessible sites on which they are erected, display great skill in architecture and ambition for immortality. That they were extremely solicitous on this latter point, is attested by the multitude of mummies, which after a lapse of so many years are to be found in great numbers in catacombs throughout the country. It appears that they had the art of embalming, and a specimen of their mummies, greatly resembling those of Egypt, may be seen in the Museum at Salem.

WAR.-The character of the Peruvians, however it

might have once been otherwise, was averse to war in the time of Pizarro. For this reason, their country fell almost at once, before a handful of invaders. Yet, when roused by the death of the Incas, and the atrocities of the Spaniards, they defended Cuzco with vigor, and displayed a capacity for military tactics, superior to that of the Mexicans. They observed the advantages obtained by the Spaniards by their discipline, and endeavored to imitate it. They armed a body of their bravest warriors, with swords, spears, and bucklers taken from the enemy, and endeavored to marshal them in compact and regular order. Some appeared in the field with muskets which they had taken, and a few of them ventured to mount the captured horses. In order to obstruct the march of cavalry, they threw among them ropes, with stones at each end, which wound around the legs of the horses, and embarrassed their progress.

SCIENCE AND ARTS.-Before the arrival of the Spaniards in America, the Peruvians were acquainted with some points of astronomy. They had observed the various motions of the planet Venus, and the different phases of the moon. The common people divided the year only by the seasons; but the Incas who had discovered the annual revolution of the sun, marked out the summer and winter solstices by high towers, which they erected on the east and west of the city of Cuzco. When the sun came to rise immediately opposite to four of those towers on the east side of the city, and to set against those on the west, it was then the summer solstice; and in like manner, when it rose and set against the other towers, it was the winter solstice. They had

also erected marble pillars in the great court before the temple of the Sun, by which they observed the equinoxes. This observation was made under the equator, when the sun being directly vertical, the pillars cast no shade. At these times they crowned the pillars with garlands of flowers and odoriferous herbs, and holding festivals, offered to the adored luminary rich presents of gold, and precious stones.

They distinguished the months by the moon, and the weeks were called quarters of the moon; but the days of the week, they marked only by the ordinal numbers, as first, second, &c. They were astonished at the eclipses of the sun and moon. When the former hid

his face, they concluded it was on account of their sins, imagining that this phenomenon portended famine, war, pestilence, or some other terrible calamity. In a similar state of the moon, they apprehended that she was sick, and when totally obscured, that she was dying. At this alarming crisis, they sounded their trumpets, and endeavored by every kind of noise to arouse the lunar planet from her supposed lethargy; teaching their children to cry out, and call upon Mama Quilla, or "Mother Moon," not to die and leave them to perish.

They made no predictions from any of the stars, but considered dreams, and the entrails of beasts which they offered in sacrifice as instructive objects of divination. When they saw the sun set, they imagined that he plunged into the ocean to appear next morning in the east.

Among a people devoid of letters, the speculative essays of the understanding must have been very rude