436 
light, calculated to remove the thick veil 
which is fpread over the hifterical and 
civil parts of the Peruvian monarchy, 
during the whole. of the time that pre- 
ceded its conqueft. Our fociety being, 
on this account, perfuaded that its re- 
fearches in this line fhould be carried 
back to the above remote ages, has de- 
termined to avail itfelf of this refource, 
to fulfil its engagements to the public 
with the greater fuccefs, and to beftow 
chis new merit on the Peruvian Mer- 
cury. se 
If the rage of cupidity and ambition 
had been. fatisfied with raking up the 
bowels of the earth, the memorials of 
ancient Peru would have been multiplied 
and entire: and, while.the delineation 
-would have been more eafy, the copy 
would have been mére beautiful. But 
the execrable thirft of gold carried defo- 
jJation to the fepulchres, which are the 
Jaft afylum of mortals ; but which, were 
here no fecurity to the afhes ret- 
pected by the right of nations *. Not- 
withftanding, in the fame way as the 
yage of Cambyfes could not prevent 
many ineftimable remains of Egyptian 
learming from being handed down to the 
prefent times, fois the utter annihilation 
of the monuments of the yncas far from 
haying been accomplithed. © Their ruins 
are every where met with; and, in the 
midft of the ravages they have fuffered, 

* In great congufts, havoc and diforders 
are inevitgble; but thofe of the execrable Car- 
yajal, and his friend, Gonzalo Pizarro, were 
@arried to an unheaid-of excefs. The latter 
put to the torture feveral of the Indians who 
had fallen into his hands, to force them to dif- 
cover the fepulchre of the ynca Viracocha, in 
which much trea{ure was faid to be concealed, 
It was found in the vally of Caxahuana, diftant 
from Cusco fix leagues. Nox content with 
glutting his avarice by the fpoil and riches he 
found in the fepulchre, he burned the corpfe of 
this monarch, and feattered in the air his re- 
fpettable afhes. Don Pedro de la Gafca, a vir- 
tuous Spaniard, whofe name ought to be en- 
graven on all the public monuments of Peru, 
punished this and the other crimes of the per- 
fidious Pizarro, by caufing him to be deeapi- 
tated befide. the monument he had fe fcan- 
daloufly outraged. The foreign writers who dwell 
with fo much peitinacity on the horrors which at. 
tended the congueit of Peru, when they exag- 
gerate the mifconduét of fome of the early ad- 
venturers, ought not te forget the heroifm and 
virtues of this learned prefident, and of many 
others whe, by imitating his example, have not 
enly wiped away the national ftains on this 
feore, but have alfo rendered the Spanith name 
djlutrious by their valour and heroic deeds, 
- Monuments of Peru 
[Dec. 
offer fufficient materials to form an-efti- 
mate of the arts, fciences, and policy, of 
thofe by whom they were raifed. 
The famous obelifks and ftatues- of 
Tiahuanacu *: the maufolea of Cha- 
_hapoyas +, works deGined to challenge 
duration with eterniiy, not only on ac- 
count or the folidity of their materials, 
but alfo of the fites on which they were 
erected, alike difplay their fkill in {eulp- 
ture, and their ambition for immerta- 
lity. That they were extremely folici- 
tous on this fcore, both with reipeét te 
the fculptures and the: dead bodies, is at- 
tefted by the multicude of mummies 
which, after a lapfe of fo many years, 
indeed, of fo. many ages, are to be found 
entire in the catacombs. The examina- 
tion of them, may, perhaps, infruét us 
in the mode by which they contrived to 
fecure them from putrefaction, and from 
the deftructive hand of rime §. 
* ‘This tuwn, fituated@on the confines of the 
city of la Paz, is unqueitionably anterior to the 
monarchy of the yncas, notwithftanding one of 
them beftowed on it its preiznt name, the origin 
of which,is faid to be as follows :—The ynca 
fell in there with a mefienger, whofe dijpatch in 
travelling was fo great, that it might be com. 
pared to the {wiitneis of a deer, ‘Phe ynea, al- 
luding to this circém@ance, faid to the meflen- 
gery when he was brought into his preiénee,: 
Tia-Huanacz, be thou ftyled the deer. “To pers 
petuate the remembrance of the celerity of the 
mefienger, and the condefcenfion of the mo- 
narch, this name was fubit.-uted to the’ une fhie 
place originally bore. The furmicabie pyram.d 
it contains, and the colefial ftawes er iienes 
together wiih a variety of human figures nicely 
cut out of the fame fub“ance, although decayed 
by time, point out that this monument belonged 
to fome¢ gigantic nation. < 
t+ The province of Chahapoyas contains build- 
‘ings of ftone, of a conical fhape, lupporting 
large unwieldy butts. They are Atuaced on the 
the declivities of mountaiis, and in spots forin- 
aceeflible, thas they cold alone - Aave been 
conirucied by fahening &,. and juipending 
by large ropes both the mareriais and the werk— 
men. They appear to have been the maufolea 
of certain of Ube cacigues or principal people, 
who, being deGrous to pepetuate their memory, 
endeavoured not enly to tecure thera from the 
ravages of time, by forming them of the moit 
‘durable fubfance, put alio” frem the tude ar- 
tacks of man, by placing them where the dread 
of the precipice would prevent his approach, 
‘J itis conjectured by fome that the Indiang — 
Preierved the dead body merely by expofing it to 
the ation o: iret. This fuppofition might be 
allowed, if theie mummies were alone to. be 
found in Sicrra,,and in the celd temperatures. 
Bat, on the. other hand, they are to be met with 
in abundnnce in the catacambs dug out in the 
allies, and in the warmer climates. 
The 
