-and there were neither in Peru. As for fairs and schools and
all those things, they were as untrue as impossible. There was no court,
nor crown, nor nobility, nor census, nor theatres, nor anything remotely
suggesting any of them; and as for the Incas, they were not kings nor
even rulers, but _a tribe of Indians_. They were the only Indians in the
Americas who had the smelter; and that enabled them to make rude gold
and silver ornaments and images; so their country was the richest in the
New World, and they certainly had a remarkable though barbaric splendor.
The temples of their blind gods were bright with gold, and the Indians
wore precious metals in profusion, just as our own Navajos and Pueblos
in New Mexico and Arizona wear pounds and pounds of silver ornaments
to-day. They made bronze tools too, some of which had a very good
temper; but it was not an art, only an accident. Two of those tools were
never found of the same alloy; the Indian smith simply guessed at it,
and had to throw away many a tool for every one he accidentally made.

The Incas were one of the Peruvian tribes, at first weak and sadly
mauled about by their neighbors. At last, driven from their old home,
they stumbled upon a valley which was a natural fortress. Here they
built their town of Cuzco,--for they built towns as did our Pueblos, but
better. Then when they had fortified the two or three passes by which
alone that pocket in the Andes can be reached, they were safe. Their
neighbors could no longer get in to kill and rob them. In time they
grew to be numerous and confident, and like all other Indians (and some
white peoples) at once began to sally out to kill and rob their
neighbors. In this they succeeded very well, because they had a safe
place to retreat to; and, above all, because they had their little
camels, and could carry food enough to be gone long from home. They had
domesticated the llama, which none of the neighbor tribes, except the
Aymaros, had done; and this gave the Incas an enormous advantage. They
could steal out from their safe valley in a large force, with provisions
for a month or more, and surprise some village. If they were beaten off,
they merely skulked in the mountains, living by their pack-train,
constantly harassing and cutting off the villagers until the latter were
simply worn out. We see what the little camel did for the Incas: it
enabled them to make war in a manner no other Indians in America had
then ever used