92 



COMMERCE. 



of men, was, however, the utmost effort of their architec- 

 ture ; and was admirable for a nation destitute of all know- 

 ledge of the mathematical science. 



It has been observed by the celebrated Linnaeus, that in all 

 uncultivated and savage countries, the rivers are wider and 

 more extensive, in proportion to the mass of their waters, 

 than in the regions inhabited by civilized nations. The just- 

 ness of this observation is demonstrated in Peru, where it is 

 continually necessary to cross rivulets and torrents, which em- 

 barras, in a very extraordinary degree, the intercourse and 

 communication, in a country where there are few bridges to 

 facilitate the transport of merchandize. Those which the 

 native inhabitants needed, were formed without arches, of 

 the construction of which they were ignorant. The rafts and 

 bridges of cord supply, however, in a certain degree, this 

 deficiency, which could not be felt by a nation whose sole 

 necessity was that of conveying its tribute to Cuzco. 



The above-mentioned causes, united to the vices inherent 

 in the soil, have prevented in Peru the progress of agriculture, 

 it having been recognized from the commencement, that in 

 proportion as she has been favoured by the produdtion of me- 

 tals of every description, she has, on that very account, been 

 condemned to an ungrateful sterility, relatively to the other 

 gifts of Nature. The history of the Yncas contains the fol- 

 lowing observation: " There are but few good lands in Peru: 

 in the territory surrounding Callao, for an extent of more 

 than a hundred and fifty leagues in circumference, the maize 

 does not spring up, on account of the excessive cold. In the 

 vallies, the scarcity of water is an insurmountable obstacle to 

 vegetation ; and there are, besides, more than seven hundred 

 leagues of a parched and arid coast, where it never rains, and 



through 



