Strangers To Every Species Of Cultivation
Or Regular Industry, Without Any Fixed Residence, And Unacquainted With
Those Sentiments And Obligations
Which form the first bonds of social
union, they are said to have roamed naked about the forests with which
Their country was then covered, more like wild beasts than like men. After
they had struggled for ages with the hardships and calamities which are
inevitable in such a state, and when no circumstance seemed to indicate
the approach of any uncommon effort towards improvement, we are told that
there appeared on the banks of the lake Titicaca, a man and woman of
majestic form, and clothed in decent garments. They declared themselves to
be children of the sun, sent by their beneficent parent, who beheld with
pity the miseries of the human race, and who had commanded them to
instruct and reclaim them. At their persuasion, enforced by reverence for
the divinity in whose name they were supposed to speak, several of the
dispersed savages united together, and receiving their commands as
heavenly instructions, followed them to Cuzco where they settled, and
where they begun to lay the foundations of a city, afterwards the capital
of Peru."
"Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo, for such were the names of these
extraordinary personages, having thus collected some wandering tribes,
formed that social union which, by multiplying the desires, and uniting
the efforts of the human species, excites industry and leads to
improvement. Manco Capac instructed the men in agriculture and other
useful arts; Mama Ocollo taught the women to spin and weave. By the labour
of the one sex subsistence became less precarious; by that of the other
life was rendered more comfortable. After securing the object of first
necessity in an infant state, by providing food, raiment, and habitations
for the rude people of whom he took charge, Manco Capac turned his
attention towards introducing such laws and policy as might perpetuate
their happiness. By his institutions, the various relations in private
life were established, and the duties resulting from them prescribed with
such propriety, as gradually formed a barbarous people to decency of
manners. In public administration, the functions of persons in authority
were so precisely defined, and the subordination of those under
jurisdiction maintained with such a steady hand, that the society in which
he presided soon assumed the aspect of a regular and well-governed state."
"Thus, according to the Indian traditions, was founded the empire of the
_Incas_, or Lords of Peru. At first its extent was small; as the territory
of Manco Capac did not reach above eight leagues from Cuzco: But within
these narrow limits he exercised an uncontrolled authority. His successors,
as their dominions extended, arrogated a similar jurisdiction over the new
subjects which they acquired; the despotism of Asia was not more complete.
The Incas were not only obeyed as monarchs, but revered as divinities.
Their blood was held to be sacred, and by prohibiting intermarriages with
the people, was never contaminated by mixing with that of any other race.
The family thus separated from the rest of the nation, was distinguished
by peculiarities in dress and ornaments, which it was unlawful for others
to assume.
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