Minuteness of Government Regulations. 441 The central government received information of every kind, and, doubtless, directed every thing that was to be done.* Moreover, as nothing which concerned his subjects was beneath the cognizance of the Inca, regulations had to be made for all those things which, in other countries, are matters of family or municipal administration. The minuteness of these regulations may be judged of by the fact that the law in favor of the sick and maimed required that they should be invited two or three times a month to the public feasts, "in order that, in the general joy, they might partly forget their own miserable estate."t It is but just to place side by side with this delicacy of humanity that characterized Peruvian legislation, the interfering tiresomeness of inspection which also was a fruit of the Incas' paternal rule. In an edict (the ley casera), which nearly followed the thoughtful law above referred to in favor of the sick and maimed, it is ordained that occupations should be provided for young children, even so young as five years of age, suitable to their years and their strength; and VERO Y JUAN DIEGO DE TSCHUDI, Antigüedades Peruanas, cap. 4., p. 72. Vienna, 1851. *"Cada juez, desde el decurion hasta el gobernador, tenia obligacion de hacer mensualmente á su superior una relacion circunstanciada de lo que habia pasado en su seccion, y el Inca recibia de los vireyes un extracto del o mas importante."-Antigüedades Peruanas, cap. 4., p. 74. "La ley en favor de los inválidos que exigia, que fuesen alimentados con los fondos públicos los lisiados, sordos, mudos, ciegos, cojos, tullidos, decrépitos y enfermos. Tambien mandaba esta ley, que fuesen llamados dos ó tres veces al mes estos inválidos á los convites y comidas públicas, para que, en el regocijo general, olvidasen en parte su miserable éstado. El Oncocamayoc, ó superintendente de enfermos, era ejecutor de esta ley.”—Antigüedades Peruanas, cap. 4., p. 80. See, to the same effect, the law quoted from Father Blas Valera, by Garcilaso de la Vega, lib. v., cap. 11. 442 Learning of the Peruvians. it is also ordained that the Peruvians should throw open their doors at dinner and at supper time, in order that the royal officers might have free ingress to inspect the doings of the people under their charge. It seems as if mankind could never do any thing well in any one direction without generating a force which carries them far beyond the good thing into some utter folly. Of the advancement of the Peruvians in any branch of learning, or of their skill in any kind of composition, it is impossible to give an accurate account. The empire was so soon and so suddenly submerged, the immediate conquerors were so busy in securing their conquest and in quarreling with one another, that little or no attention was given to preserve the relics of the literature of the Incas. It appears that the Peruvians cultivated dramatic literature, and there exists a drama with the title of Ollanta; or, the Severity of a Father and the Generosity of a King.* What the ancient Peruvians chiefly excelled in were probably short songs, relating principally to love, which were called haravis. Some of the ancient tunes still remain, and are said to be very melodious. Gar * This drama is given in Dr. Tschudi's learned work on the KechuaSprache. Unfortunately, however, a cloud hangs over the time of its production, and little, therefore, can be safely argued about it. Some say, however, that it was performed in the great square of Cusco during the time of the Incas. "Leider sind wir in völligem Dunkel über den Ursprung dieses merkwürdigen Werkes; wir wissen nicht einmal, ob es aus der Zeit der Inca's uns überliefert wurde, oder ob es das Product der Muse eines neueren Dichters ist. Nach einigen Angaben soll das Stück schon zur Zeit der Inca's auf dem öffentlichen Platze von Cuzco aufgeführt worden sein, sogar noch nach der Eroberung."Die Kechua-Sprache, von J. J. von TSCHUDI, part i., p. 28. Poetry of the Peruvians. 443 cilaso de la Vega gives a specimen of the words of one of these love-songs : The real love-songs of a nation are seldom, I suppose, the strongest parts of its literature; and the simple ditty given above, though very pleasing and intelligible to the persons principally concerned, does not hold out much promise of being very attractive to the world in general. It is probable that the Peruvians possessed a sweet, gentle, melancholy poetry for their songs, some historical plays, and some poems of a higher order, relating to the heavenly bodies and to the elements (filosofando las Causas segundas). It may be doubted whether the robust sense to be found in the Mexican exhortations, such as the warning against lies, because they cause confusion,* would be discovered in Peruvian literature, even if we possessed much more of it. One great public work, or, rather, royal work, Peru possessed, which was not equaled in that period, and perhaps is not equaled now in any part of the world. This was a road, which, for a distance in latitude of more than twelve hundred geographical miles, brought into communication all the provinces of the Peruvian empire. The learned Von Humboldt mentions that he has found this road at an elevation, tested by bar "Oh! hijo no cures de burlerías ó mentiras porque causan confusion."-LAS CASAS, Hist. Apologética, cap. 223. This, though not the most exalted motive for truth, is nevertheless simple, massive, and profound. ometrical calculations, of 12,440 feet above the sea, more than a thousand feet above the height of the Peak of Teneriffe.* This road went northward from Cusco * "Was ich von römischen Kunststrassen in Italien, dem südlichen Frankreich und Spanien gesehen, war nicht imposanter als diese Werke der alten Peruaner; dazu finden sich letztere nach meinen apo Great Road through the Empire. 445 to a point beyond Quito, in the province of Guaca, and southward from Cusco to Chuquisaca, not far from the mines of Potosi.* We may form some notion of its magnitude by imagining such a road to have been constructed from Calais to Constantinople, only that the Peruvian country traversed is far more difficult than that which lies between the two points. designated in Europe. The road was broad enough for six men-at-arms to go abreast, or, in after days, three carriages. In some places the beds of concrete (mezcla), of which the road was formed, went down from 80 to 100 feet. The rains have since washed away the earth from under the concrete, and have left masses of it suspended "like bridges made of one stone." There was also a lower road, about forty‡ leagues distant from the other, which traversed the level country near the sea-shore. Along these roads, at equal distances, stone caravansaries were built, called, in the language of the natives, tambos, or Inca Pilca. Not forgetting comfort any more than utility, the Incas had ordered trees to be planted by the sides of the roads. The historian ZARATE, who knew Peru well, having been sent there about twelve years after the Conquest, in speaking of these roads, says, “And he will see the difficulty of this work who shall consider the labor and cost which have been expended in Barometer-Messungen in der Höhe von 12,440 Fuss. Diese Höhe übersteigt demnach den Gipfel des Pic von Teneriffa um mehr als tausend Fuss."-Ansichten der Natur, vol. ii., p. 323. Stuttgart, 1849. * In reference to the southern part of this road, see the 106th chapter of CIEÇA DE LEON'S Chrónica del Peru. (Seville, 1553.) He had traversed the whole of Peru. † See VELASCO's Hist. de Quito, tom. ii., p. 59, quoted in Antig. Per., "Distaba el uno camino del otro cuarenta leguas por lo ancho."LAS CASAS, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 252. |