208 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



tical systems of rule, as they were in their 

 shades of colour. 



At the time of the first conquests made 

 in Continental America by the Spaniards, 

 the natives of Mexico and of Peru were in 

 an incipient state of civilization : the natives 

 of South America, with the exception of 

 Peru, were at that period savages, more or 

 less, taking that term as it is generally un- 

 derstood. Some of them, however, were 

 more in advance towards civilization than 

 others, and though the natives of South 

 America had little occasion for agriculture, 

 in the sense in which it is understood in 

 Europe, those of many parts of Mexico 

 practised it with industry and success ; and 

 there are some portions of that territory 

 still inhabited by the descendants of the 

 aboriginal Indians in great numbers, and 

 where agriculture has existed for upwards 

 of eight centuries. 



