60 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four 

 heads." 



But let us now turn from the ancient history of the art in the old 

 world to that in the new, and see if we can find any traces of there 

 having existed a civilization so high that the art was practiced in the 

 ages long ago. 



In South America, the artificial watering of the earth to increase 

 its fruitful ness is of so remote an origin that its history is quite un- 

 known. At a period probably antedating the Christian era, the inhab- 

 itants of that country understood a scientific system of using the 

 waters of natural streams and lakes for the purpose of irrigating their 

 crops. But the art of irrigation was lost in South America, if we are 

 to judge by a comparison of the irrigation works of today in that 

 country, with those of the past ages. Philologists and archaeologists 

 claim that no conceivable simple case of deterioration of an ancient 

 race could have taken place that would have affected such a change. 

 They think that the original inhabitants are totally extinct; and that 

 the present inhabitants are in no sense descendants of the former oc 

 cupants of the land, but rather that they represent a later migration, 

 probably from an entirely different country, The study of the works 

 of irrigation would confirm this theory. It seems impossible that the 

 inhabitants of Peru and Bolivia, practicing irrigation as they do to- 

 day, in the crudest conceivable manner, could have sprung from a race 

 that at one time were masters of the art. Probably the first inhabit- 

 ants came from the old world, and had lived sufficiently long in an ir- 

 rigated country to be perfectly familiar with the art. For certain we 

 are that aqueducts, canals and reservoirs were constructed on an im- 

 mense scale and in such an enduring manner that they have defied the 

 changes of unnumbered centuries. When they were built is not 

 known; by whom they were built can not be definitely ascertained. 

 But certain we are that there remains proof that the people who 

 planned and maintained them were in many ways highly civilized. 

 Some of the aqueducts were of great length One which traversed the 

 district of Condesuyos measured nearly five hundred miles. The water 

 was brought from some lake or natural reservoir in the heart of the 

 mountains; and also additional supplies were obtained at intervals 

 from other basins that lay on its route. Prescott remarks: "Canals and 

 aqueducts were seen crossing the lowlands in all directions, and spread- 

 ing over the country like a vast network, diffusing fertility and beauty 

 around them." Most of the work of the Incas has been allowed to go 

 to decay by the later Spanish conquerors of that country. In some 

 spots the waters are still left to flow in their silent channels, whose 

 windings and sources have been alike unexplored. Others, though 

 partially dilapidated and closed with rubbish, still betray their course 



