COMMERCE. 



01 



time that they needed certain aliments better calculated for 

 the propagation of the human species. The wars which were 

 carried on, with scarcely an interval of repose, between the 

 nations that peopled the country ; the sacrifices of human vic- 

 tims to which several of them were accustomed ; the crimes 

 which were very common in others ; and, lastly, the insalu- 

 brity of the climate, more especially in the islands and pro- 

 vinces bordering on the line, covered with forests and lakes, 

 which rendered the atmosphere more humid than in any other 

 part of the earth ; all these principles concurred to prevent 

 the generations from multiplying. The ignorance of the use- 

 ful arts, of such as are essential to the conveniences of life, 

 in which the American lived, contributed also to this efFe6t. 



This last deficiency was supplied by the Indians of Peru, 

 according to the imperfe6t state of their acquirements. As 

 they knew not how to reckon up to twenty, without employ- 

 ing such material signs as could be substituted to the idea of 

 quantities, they had recourse to the quipos^ the combination, 

 knots, and colours of which served them instead of arithmetic, 

 history, and painting. The celebrated ruins of the fortress of 

 Cuzco point out to us the extent to which the force of man 

 can be carried, when unassisted by the knowledge of the equi- 

 librium, and by machinery. These fragments demonstrate, 

 that, in the time of the Yncas, the Peruvians constru6ted their 

 buildings with solidity and ostentation. To pile together 

 stones of a prodigious size*, by the means of a great number 



* One of the portions of rock of which this edifice was composed, has been cal- 

 culated to weigh from twelve to fifteen tons. Another, which lies on the ground, 

 and appears not to have been applied to the purpose for which it w as intended, is of 

 so enormous a size, as to make it difficult to conceive how, with such very simple 

 means, it could have been brought from the quarry whence it was drawn. 



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