148 



mitted with implicit obedience ; the Hves of his subjects were 

 so absolutely at his disposal, that if any had offended him, 

 he came with profound humility, and offered him his head. 

 Nor did the dominion of the chief cease with his life, for his 

 favourite wives and principal officers were sacrificed at his 

 tomb, with many domestics of inferior rank, that he might 

 be attended in the next world by those that served him in 

 this. 



Nothing surely but the most infatuated superstition could 

 render such a government tolerable. And accordingly we 

 are told that the chief was reputed a being of a superior 

 nature. 



In Bagota, now a province of New Grenada, there v^as 

 settled a nation more considerable in number, and more im- 

 proved in the various arts of life than any people in America, 

 except the Mexicans and the Peruvians. The idea of pro- 

 perty Avas introduced among them and secured by laws hand- 

 ed down by tradition. They subsisted by agriculture ; they 

 lived in large towns, and were decently clpathed ; their 

 houses might be termed commodious, when compared with 

 those of the people around them. Courts of justice were 

 established, which took cognizance of different crimes; a 

 distinction of ranks was known. Yet their chief or monarch 

 reigned with absolute authority, and so venerated by his sub- 

 jects that none presumed to look him directly in the face. 



2 Roberts. 



