Some years ago, while engaged in writing on the Incas of Peru, their civilization and knowledge of the fine and the industrial arts, I came to doubt what has been so confidently set forth by some historians, that the Children of the Sun knew of a secret in metallurgy that baffles the scientific knowledge of the nineteenth century to discover. It is true that the Incas had their mirrors of polished copper, which their women greatly prized; and did not Humboldt bring to Europe a copper chisel, that was found in a silver mine close to Cuzco? And is it not true that many of the vessels, weapons, tools, and ornaments, which belong to Incarial times and are now and again found in various parts of Peru, are of a brown complexion, and not blue or green with rust? And does not all this prove that the Incas possessed and practised the art of hardening copper?

The Incas were a wonderful people: their system of colonization and settlement is worthy the attention of modern statesmen. Their way of life was admirable and enviable for many things: no one, for example, of their kingdom could die for lack of bread; idleness was punished as a crime; no lawsuit could be postponed longer than five days. Everybody received an education peculiar to his state and condition.