ecords.

It must be evident, then, that all our knowledge of Peru, previous to
the arrival of the Spaniards, rests solely upon traditions. We have no
reason to suppose that these traditions are of more value in their case
than in the case of other rude and illiterate people. The memory of
such people is very short lived. The tribes in the southern part of
the United States must have been greatly impressed with Do Soto's
expedition. They heard fire-arms for the first time, and for the first
time saw horses ridden by men. Yet in the course of a few generations
they had completely forgotten all this.<11>

One very eminent authority is Garcillasso De La Vega.<12> Let us examine
his writings a minute. He was born in Cuzco about 1540, but a few years
after the conquest. His mother claimed descent from the royal family. He
left Peru in 1560, when he was just twenty years old, and went to Spain.
He first sought advancement in the army. Despairing of success in that
line, he turned his attention to literature. One of his first works was
an account of De Soto's expedition to Florida. The historian Bancroft
thus characterizes this work: "An extravagant romance, yet founded upon
facts--a history not without its value, but which must be consulted with
extreme caution." Yet in this work there were no subtile ties of blood,
no natural bias as there would be in favor of the land of his birth.

About 1600 he commenced his "Royal Commentaries of Peru." This is the
main source of information as to ancient Peru. We must reflect that he
had been away from his native land forty years when he commenced the
work. His sources of information were the stories told him in his
boyhood days, the writings of the Spanish travelers, monks, and
conquerors, and what he learned by corresponding with his old friends in
Peru, which he did when he formed the design of writing his history. In
other words, his history rests on the traditions extant at the time of
the conquest, viewed, however, from a distance of sixty years. Who can
doubt but what the old man, writing his accounts of this mother's race,
that race that had been so deeply wronged, wrote it under the influence
of that potent spell, which the memory of old age throws around
childhood's days?

It is evident we have in these accounts but little deserving the name of
history. When he undertakes to tell us of the doings of the Incas, who
are supposed to have reigned three or four hundred years befo