They were a great race. Peru, as it was known to the Spaniards, held
very much the same relation to the ancient Quichua civilization as
England in the sixteenth century held to the civilization of the empire
of the Caesars. The Incas were simply an offshoot, who, descending from
the mountains, subdued the rude races of the sea-coast, and imposed
their ancient civilization upon them.
The Quichua nation extended at one time over a region of country more
than two thousand miles long. This whole region, when the Spaniards
arrived, "was a populous and prosperous empire, complete in its civil
organization, supported by an efficient system of industry, and
presenting a notable development of some of the more important arts of
civilized life." (Baldwin's "Ancient America," p. 222.)
The companions of Pizarro found everywhere the evidences of a
civilization of vast antiquity. Cieca de Leon mentions "great edifices"
that were in ruins at Tiahuanaca, "an artificial hill raised on a
groundwork of stone," and "two stone idols, apparently made by skilful
artificers," ten or twelve feet high, clothed in long robes. "In this
place, also," says De Leon, "there are stones so large and so overgrown
that our wonder is excited, it being incomprehensible how the power of
man could have placed them where we see them.
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