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THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 15! 
Theft, murder, and even infractions of the laws of morality, 
were all punished by death. Five days only were allowed for 
the decision of any Court of Justice, and from its judgment 
there was no appeal. The whole life of the Nation was car- 
ried on without money, or any equivalent to it. The precious 
metals and gems were the absolute property of the Inca, and 
even by him were used, not for purposes of exchange or 
purchase, but only for the adornment of his person, and that 
of his Palaces, and of the Temples of the Sun. 
Wonderful to relate this policy continued unbroken through 
the reigns of thirteen princes, each of whom trod in the foot- 
steps of his fathers. 
In the words of Prescott ‘‘ No man could be rich, no man could 
be poor in Peru, but all might enjoy, and did enjoy a competence. 
Ambition, avarice, the love of change, the morbid spirit of discontent, 
those passions which most agitate the minds of men, found no place in 
the bosom of the Peruvian.” 
What was the end of this Utopia? This great and civilized 
Nation which had taken centuries to build up and could put 
200,000 soldiers in the field? It was absolutely destroyed by 
less than 200 freebooters, under Pizarro, the scum of the 
Spanish Chivalry, and only greedy for gold. It crumbled to 
pieces in the short space of time occupied by the twilight of a 
tropical November evening. The Spaniards were separated 
from the sea by a long and toilsome march, and by the difficult 
and snowy passes of the giant mountains of the Andes; yet, 
when by a treacherous trick they had seized the person of the 
Inca, in the face of an army of 30,000 to 40,000 men, the whole 
structure collapsed at once and for ever. The brain of the 
body politic having been destroyed, all its members were 
stricken with instant and absolute paralysis. 
Excessive legislation had reduced them to the condition of 
well oiled automata, they were obedient and content, it is 
true, but had nothing to defend. They lived a merely vege- 
tative life, having scarcely any more individuality than the 
