1797+] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
MopeErnN Peru ano MEXxiIco. 
GENERALIDEA OF THE MONUMEN?S 
oF Peru. 
{ Tranflated from El Mercurio Peruano, a 
Peruvian Fournal, publifbed at Lima, tbe 
wets, Sc. of which are defcribed im our 
Magazine for Ofober, 1797-] 
SCARCELY does man begin to live, 
_ When every thing announces to him 
his approaching diffuluiion. The ele- 
ments deftined to his nourithment, con- 
dpire to his deitru€tion; and the very 
globe heinhabits does not ceafe, by vio- 
lent convulfions, to endeavour to fhake off 
a load by whch it feems to be oppreffed. 
In the mean iime, immortality is that 
which caules in his mortal breaft the moft 
poignant and unqniet fenfation. The 
defive of furviving his perifhableé exiftence, 
and of tranfmiteing to polterity his hero- 
ical. achievements, 1s an idoj to which his 
lait (c.inces are offered up. 
This enthutiafm, ef equal anciquity with 
man oimfelf, has conttantlv led “him. to 
have recourle to a thoufand expedients, 
to elude, in a certain manner, the painful 
limit of his inevitable deftiny, and to 
avenze its Wrongs, 
matic fubftances, balfams, cedar, brafs, 
and marble, on the one hand; on the 
other, compofitions replete with melody, 
brilliant recitals, emblems, and fine images, 
which have an efficacious power to attract 
attention and excite furprife;—fuch are the 
ebitacles, which the pride of mortals has 
oppoled to the voracioufnels of time. 
Hence have arifen mummies, which are 
preferved for thoufands of years, reckon- 
ing from their original corruptibility, the 
maufolea,in which they are inclofed, obe- 
lifks, pyramids, itatues, and all che monu- 
ments in which the chife) and the graver 
difplay their magic fill, to perpetuate the 
poithumous memory of the hero and the 
man of power. To this fame principle 
we are indebted for poetry, for hiftory, 
whether traditional, or exprefled by fym- 
bols, aud for all the fketches and defigns 
in which the pencil manifetts its energy. 
Thefe preci.us trophies of the vanity 
and grandeur of men and of nations, def- 
tined to immortalize the triumphs of va- 
Jour, of virtue, and, occafionally, of fana- 
ticuim, form,without doubt, an object wor- 
thy the confideration and ftudy of the 
‘man of letters. But for them, what in- 
formation could we have obtained relative 
to thofe obfcure ages which gave birth to 
monarchies, arts, and fciences, and in 
which modes and cuftoms were firft regu- 
Odoriferous and aro-- 
Monuments of Peru. 435 
lated? To thofe ages in which the lyre 
and the fwect harmony of vocal founds. 
fuddued the ferocious tyger, and the en- 
raged lion, and fofrened the obdurate 
rocks! A philofophical poet denied the 
eternity of the world, folely on this ac- 
count, that, prior to the Theban war, 
and the deltruétion of Troy,,ao poems 
of monuments were to be found, to hand 
down the remembrance of thofe remark~ 
able avents which fame is wont to re~ 
cord, and which illuftrate allages*. But 
in fucceeding times, and in the nations 
which poffefled the art of writing in all 
its perfeétion, the want of the prefs 
to renew the leaves which’ the moth 
or the corroding hand of time had de- 
{troyed, has rendered paseofophy, or the 
ftudy of antiquities, indif{penfable, to fill up 
the chafims they have lett, or to comment 
on the fables they have tranfmicted to 
us. In reétifying chronology and hif- 
tory, how ufeful has been the examina- 
tion of the hierogiyphics and enigmas of 
the -fuperfticious Egyptians, the ruins of 
Paimyra, the odes and defcriptions of the 
Greeks, the bufts and pyramids of Rome 
&c. He, ba we A 
This fubjeét, confined to Peru, acquires 
a new degree of value and intereft. At 
the time of its conqueft, the archives of 
Cuzco, Caxamarca, and Quito, were loft 
for ever: the fragil Quipos are reduced 
to duit; and the tradition of the memo- 
rable events of the kingdom, having by 
degrees become lefs and lefs pertect, 
through the ignorance and careleffnefs of 
thofe to whofe charge it was intrufted, 
the obferver is obliged to recur tothe com- 
parifon, or, it may be faid, to the interpre- 
tation of the ancient fragments and ruins, 
to complete the imperfect picture of this 
ancient empire, as it has been fketched by 
the pencil of Garcilafo, By the fame 
means the fables relative to its religion 
and policy, adopted by the lateft hiftorio- 
graphers, may be deciphered. The ftudy 
of the monuments ereéted by the yncas, 
to difplay their power and record their 
exiftence; the recitals of their glories; 
the traditions and relics of their ancient 
ufages and cuftoms, which fill remain 
among the modern Indians, who tena- 
cioufly preferve and repeat what their 
forefathers have, from time. immemorial, 
handed down to them; and, lattly, the 
inveftigation of the works which were 
erected, either by magnificence or through 
neceflity, unqueftionably afford a new 
TT 
® Lucretii, kb. 5. ver. 325. 
light, 
