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, 
