31 



When I have employed in the course 

 of these investigations the words, monu- 

 ments of the New World, progress in the 

 arts of drawing, intellectual culture, I 

 have had no intention of supposing a state 

 of things, which indicates what is called, 

 somewhat vaguely, a highly advanced ci- 

 vilization. Nothing is more difficult than 

 a comparison between nations, who have 

 followed different roads in their progress 

 towards social perfection. The Mexicans 

 and Peruvians must not be judged accord- 

 ing to the principles laid down in the history 

 of those nations, which are the unceasing 

 objects of our studies. They are as remote 

 from the Greeks and the Romans, as they 

 bear a near affinity to the Etruscans and 

 the people of Thibet. Among the Peru- 

 vians, a theocratic government, while it 

 favoured the growth of industry, the con- 

 struction of public works, and whatever 

 might be called general civilization, pre- 

 sented obstacles to the display of the facul- 

 ties of the individual. Among the Greeks, 



