district. The government thus manifested its sympathy with suffering.

The cultivation of the imperial field in every commune was the occasion of a festival. On the days designated, the people-men, women, and children-assembled before sunrise in their gayest dresses, and did the work amidst continuous chants, which had the word "hailli" for the chorus, and conveyed the ideas of joy and triumph.

All the adult male subjects of the empire were required to learn the Quichuan tongue; and all the Inca males went to schools in the temples, where they received instruction in the laws, traditions, songs, religion, and quipus of the country. The quipus were cords, which by different knots, colors, and modes of combination, served to keep records of the number of the people, weapons, food measures, pieces of cloth, llamas, and so forth, in every commune, department, and province of the empire, and also of the laws, history, religions, doctrines, and ecclesiastical ceremonies. The knotted cords were of course inferior to writing for recording thought, but wonderful statements are made of the comprehensiveness and precision with which they conveyed ideas to those persons who devoted much time to their study. Instruction in the quipus was given to none save the nobles; the common people were taught that they must never aspire to rise above the condition of the laborer.

The Quichuans had a solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, including twelve lunar months and some surplus days; and they had vertical columns to enable them to ascertain the solstices and equinoxes. Beyond these points we know nothing certain of their astronomy. They had dramatic performances. Their musical instruments were drums, pans-pipes, trumpets,

bells, and lutes with five or seven strings. Waitz says they had no counterpoint. Rivero asserts that they had two parts to their airs which were in the minor key. Their language had abstract words for thought, wisdom, beauty, spirit, and eternity, indicating a considerable degree of intellectual development.'

sun.

SEC. 189. Government.-The government was a hereditary, theocratic, despotic monarchy. The sovereign was the chief priest, the head of the national religion, divine in his character, the terrestrial representative and son of the great national god, the celestial luminary, the He chose his chief wife among his sisters, and her eldest son was the legitimate heir to the throne. In this manner the blood of the imperial family had remained unmixed for at least fifteen generations. The first Quichuan monarch, who was not, on both sides, the descendant of the pair with whom the Inca dominion began, was Atahualpa, and with him the dynasty came to an end. These monarchs, thus bred "in and in," instead of being weak physically and intellectually, as we might have expected to find them, were noted for their career of success uninterrupted for centuries until they encountered the iron civilization of Europe. Besides his chief wife, the Inca sovereign had hundreds of concubines.

Next in rank to the sovereign was the Inca nobility, consisting of persons descended from the imperial family. These Incas filled all the high ecclesiastical, military, and political offices under the emperor. They paid no tribute, owned no land, serfs, nor slaves, and were dependent for everything on the throne. The second order of nobility consisted of the native chiefs of conquered provinces and their descendants. It was the established policy of the empire that such chiefs, if submissive, should

be retained in their offices, and that their power should descend to their sons. Usually the office went to the eldest son, but sometimes to one younger who showed superior capacity. Nearly all the inferior offices were held by these nobles of the second rank. They wore a peculiar dress, spoke a peculiar dialect, held all high offices, whether sacerdotal, military, or political, and were the only persons educated to take charge of the imperial offices.

Without the

The remainder of the people were serfs. consent of their noble officers, they could not leave their communes even temporarily; they could not change their occupations, nor idle, nor marry, nor refuse to marry. The families were organized into squads of ten, each of which had a decurion whose duty it was to make periodical reports of all births, deaths, marriages, crimes, and other important facts in his jurisdiction to his immediate superior or centurion who was the chief of ten squads; he reported in turn to his immediate superior, the chief of ten centuriates; and he to his superior, an Inca, who was at the head of 10,000 families, and these Incas to the king. The lower officials were also prosecutors and judges, and were held to a strict responsibility for the preservation of peace and the punishment of crime among their respective subjects. This system kept the whole people under a most effective system of surveillance and maintained excellent public order. All the higher crimes were tried by noble judges, who were required to render a final decision in every case within five days. There was no rehearing and no appeal. Noble inspectors went from province to province, at regular intervals, to examine into the administration and see the condition of the palaces, temples, store-houses, and

people, and the conduct of the officials. Justice was administered efficiently and cheaply.

The government took charge of the bed and board, the body and soul of everybody. There was no private property. There was no money, the love of which is said to be the root of all evil; that is, for those who are not worried by the lack of it. There were no traders and no hired laborers. There was no idleness, and among the common people no choice of occupation or residence. Every man had his orders what to do, where to live, and how to dress. There were no disreputable classes. There was no professional criminal, no lawyer, no pauper, nɔ millionaire, no prostitute, no politician, no old maid, no old bachelor. It was a happy land! Without the aid of the industrial wonders of the nineteenth century, without railway, steamboat, magnetic telegraph, or electric light, the people lived free from care under a government which prevented all competition among them, which assumed all their responsibilities, guarded all their interests, and was ever watchful of their welfare. Waitz, reviewing the general condition of the Quichuan Empire, says: "By the strong socialistic institutions, poverty and idleness were rendered as impossible as ambition and greed. Obedience to the law was universal, and although the people had not the least prospect of improving their condition by toil and economy, yet on the other hand no one could fall into indigence. All free movement of individuals, all private enterprise, all competition, all effort for further progress, was smothered, and the machine of state was carefully devised by the paternal supervision of the Incas, so that no spark of spiritual life should be kindled among the mass of the people."

SEC. 190. Aggressive Policy.-The Quichuans were a warlike, conquering, and consolidating people. No nation succeeded more completely during a comparatively brief career in founding by arms an extensive dominion on a basis of permanence, with a complete absorption of numerous and extensive heterogeneous elements. We have already seen that the chiefs of the conquered tribes were retained in power. Under Quichuan authority their dynasties obtained a permanence which they never had before. The chiefs then, had little to lose by submission to the Quichuan invaders. Nor had the people much to lose. They were protected against the constant warfare, the anarchical disorder, and the frequent famines that beset them in their independent condition. The construction of roads, irrigating ditches, and store-houses, brought advantages to which the majority could not be indifferent. The reduction of the mass of the people and especially of the native nobility to serfdom, with the obligation of regular labor under strict supervision, was probably the cause of some discontent, but under the precautions taken by the Quichuan officials, resistance was unavailing. When the authorities had any doubt about the fidelity of a province, they moved a considerable portion of its people into the midst of some loyal district, and filled up the vacant place with a trustworthy population. Such compulsory migrations by thousands of families were common events, and they served not only to preserve the peace but also to make the Quichuan tongue, arts, and ideas familiar to the whole people. Every department of the empire had its quarter in the capital whither the sons of the nobles were sent as hostages and students.

When the Quichuan troops invaded a country, they