MARKHAM'S CUZCO AND LIMA.'
TIM volume is a curious medley of personal adventure and obser- vation, descriptions of modern Peruvian society, narratives of Spanish-Peruvian history, and investigations or (Call them) rhap- sodies touching Peruvian antiquities before the advent of the Spaniards. Stimulated by the writings of Robertson, Prescott, and more than all by the stories of the Inca Gmeilasso, touching the virtues, renown, splendour, and good government of his an- cestors the sovereigns of Peru Mr. Markham started in August 1.852,. for Aspinwall, the station of the Panama railway, and, crossing the Isthmus, embarked for Lima. Besides various ex- cursions, mostly with antiquarian objects, on the Pacific side of the Andes, he crossed the mountains, and made a pilgrimage to Cuzco, not merely with a view to realize antiquarian and histori- cal descriptions on the spot, but to hunt up remains of the arts, literature, and traditions of the Incas.
These subjects are generally of a very dry kind in themselves. Questions as to how America was peopled, and whence' or by what means, are vain and profitless ; for plausible conjecture is all that can be attained. The subject of ancient American civiliza- tion, before the appearance of the Aztecs in Mexico or the Incas in Peru, if not very useful, is a shade more satisfactory, inasmuch as we have remains of their buildings and their arts to compare with similar preehistorio examples in the Old World, and to guide speculation. The origin of the Incas and the Aztecs has little more data to go upon than the peopling of the continent : mo- dern scepticism is inclined to doubt the reports of the conquerors of Mexico and Peru as to the high civilization they found. The only man amongst them capable by education, worldly experience, and native judgment, of forming an opinion upon extent anti de- grees of civilization, was Cortes ' lf ; but then, his object was to magnify all he saw, in order to magnify his own exploits and the importance of his conquest. 'let all these questions are curious topics of discussion, in proportion to the degree in which there are data to proceed upon. To benefit or rather to attract the reader, there must be patient and penetrating research ; a na- tive logic, which can extract the grains of truth and reason from the immense amount of chaff with which the subjects are over- whelmed; as well as the power of making argument attraetive, the first essential towards which is a sensible mode of statement and of reasoning, that, presenting the subject fairly, excites an interest in the reader by enlisting his assent. To such qualities Mr. Markham has little claim. His reading is perhaps not so extensive as he wishes it to appear ; but, be its range what it may, he is an indiscriminate peruser rather than a critical inquirer. Of acumen he is not altogether deficient, for he perceives some of the weak points of his authorities ; but his mode of statement is loose and rhapsodical, inspiring neither in- terest nor confidence. The arrangement would mar the effect of a better-conducted disquisition. Instead of making his inves- tigations and discoveries a predominant feature, he continually intermixes personal incidents or observations with his search after antiquities, and does it unskilfully, so that the whole has a frag- mentary air. His chief acquisitions, if indeed. what was known already are to be called such, are some Indian songs and two dramas. The songs, however, only express the thoughts and feelings of the modern Indians. The dramas date from before the Spanish conquest ; but as Peru under the Incas could not write, they were taken down afterwards by the Spaniards, and are probably somewhat adulterated. The subject of the main plot of the best piece is that on which " Pizarro ' is founded : the treatment is inartistical. The most striking point connected with the ancient Peruvian arts is the mechanical power of transporting
and raising vast masses of stone ; a power possessed by, M
Egypt- ians and shown in all preehistoric monuments. TIfis is Mr. Markham's description of some ruins, which, whatever may be thought of the narrative connected with them, remain to tell their own story. "The most wonderful part of these vast remains is the distance from which the stones that compose them have been conveyed. The huge blocks of granite of such wonderful dimensions, and yet so beautifully Out, are built on a steep hill composed of limestone and the nearest granite .quarry is at a distance of nearly two leagues, and 'at the other side of the river. From this point, which is high up the face of the mountain, these enormous quarters of rock, after they had been accurately cut, were conveyed down to the river, across it, and then along the banks to the foot of the fortress, a distance of nearly a league, where they were brought into their present position ; yet, by dint of untiring perseverance and great engineering ability, this extraordinary labour was accomplished.
"Our information is too limited to enable us to form any certain opinion as to the means used for the achievement of this gigantic enterprise,- but there is yet sufficient left to give conjecture a strong appearance of pro- bability. "The tools of the time of the Incas which have been discovered and analyzed are usually of copper, with a certain percentage of tin or silica as hardening
• CUZCO : a Journey to the ancient Capital of Peru; with an Account of the His- tory, Language, Literature, and Antiquities °Like Incas. And Limo: a Visit to the Capital and Provinces of modern Peru. With Illustrations and a Afap. By Clements It. Markham, F.B.G.S., Author of" Franklin's Footsteps," fr. Published by Chapman and tatter; but it is evident that these would have been quite insufficient to cut and shape such material as gneiss or granite.
"The first rough shape may have been given by these instruments, but the planing and polishing was probably effected by rubbing with other stones and with powder, and the finishing-touches were given by means of an herb containing silica. "When however, it is remembered that these huge blocks were cut into various angles, to receive the dovetailings of their neighbours with the most perfect accuracy, no mean notion will be entertained of the skill and in- genuity of the Incas. "When they were perfectly shaped, the stones had to be conveyed down the mountain to the banks of the Vilcamayu, probably by means of sogas, or huge cables of the twisted fibre of the maguey, passed round them, and manned by thousands of Indians. "The nver then presents an almost insuperable obstacle ; and it is far from easy to conceive how the stones could have been conveyed across it, at a point where it is twenty yards in width, very deep, and dashing along with furious rapidity. BM the Incas, by some contrivance, overcame also this difficulty, and finally conveyed the granite blocks along the right bank, for two miles, to the fortress, placing them at length in their present positions.
"On the road there are still two immense blocks that never reached their destination, which place the route traversed by the others beyond a doubt. They are well known as the famous Saymnica-rumi-cuna, or tired stones. The one nearest the fortress is nine feet eight inches long, seven feet eight inches broad, and four feet two inches deep. It is beautifully cut, and has a groove three inches deep round it, apparently for passing a rope. The other is twenty feet four inches in length, fifteen feet two inches broad, and three feet six inches deep, like a huge beam.', Although Peru does not yet form part of the tourist's annual excursion-ground, several works have been published respecting It of late years; while its most striking natural feature, the Andes, have formed a point in the books of travellers, whose ex- plorations were nominally limited to Chili. Mr. Markham's ac- count of Peruvian society is the most favourable we have seen. He properly disregards those peculiarities which arise from dif- ferent habits or difference of climate, but which the Anglo-Saxon race generally fasten upon as something deserving censure or supremely ridiculous, from being what they are not used to. To the free and easy agremens of South American life our author resigned himself. One conclusion that he draws is important if correct. Notwithstanding. the ignorance and. helplessness which the Spanish colonial domination entailed upon the Indians the European Creoles, and the mixed races—notwithstanding the in- cessant wars and revolutions since the overthrow of the Spanish power, with the cruelties that distinguished them, and the loose public morality to which they gave rise—liberty- has benefited the Peruvian character. There is. more freedom of opinion; some- thing more of indnsii y ; young Peru though too much given to play and pleasure, is better educated than of yore and with larger theories ; able and respectable men in the country are ex- erting themselves through the press and otherwise to improve the tone and raise the objects of the public mind. One of the higher clergy, Vigil, the librarian of the public library at Lima, has published a very free discussion about the Papal power, and got excommunicated for his pains. A suspicious element, however, lurks in Mr. Markba-m's favourable predictions : in expatiating upon the future of Cuzco, he introduces the "enterprise of the Saxon race" as one of its chances for prosperity; a phrase which in the mouth of an United States American would. easily pass as the synonyme for "annexation."
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