INHABITANTS OF PEfiU. 



305 



Their work may thus prove more important than that of the Inca couriers, just 

 as the steamers plying on the coast must tend to stimulate progress to an incom- 

 parably greater extent than the otherwise really remarkable Peruvian craft. These 

 large balsas, or " rafts," as the Spaniards called them, were strong enough to resist 

 the ocean waves, as we are assured by Pizarro's pilot, Puiz de Estrada. They 



Fig. 117. — Ancient Highways of the Incas. 

 Scale 1 : 17,000,000. 



310 MUea. 



were most solidly built, with double masts, carrying broad, square sails, and not 

 only navigated the waters near the coast, but even ventured on the high seas as 

 far as the Galapagos archipelago, 600 miles distant from the nearest land. 



Even science, in the strict sense, had made considerable progress, as is evident 

 from their decimal system, as accurate as that of modern times, their observation 

 21 



