" The Peruvians and some of the neighboring nations carried the cultivation of the soil to a higher stage of perfection than any of the American nations. In consequence of the narrow extent of land intervening between the mountains and the sea, the rivers in this region are usually of

small size, and the soil, being arid and sandy, needs the aid of artificial irrigation. To such an extent did they carry their ingenious efforts, that the sides of the steepest mountains were converted into productive fields, by being encircled with terraces, supported by stone walls, and watered by canals."

" Upon the sides of some of the mountains," observes Mr. Temple, " were the remains of walls built in regular stages

round them, from their base to their summits, forming terraces on which, or between which, the Indians, in days of yore, cultivated their crops."

" Frezier says the Indians were very industrious in conveying the waters of the rivers through their fields and to their dwellings, and that there were still to be seen in many places Aqueducts formed of earth and stone, and carried along the sides of hills with great labor and ingenuity."

" I have had various opportunities," says a recent traveller, " of closely examining one of these canals, which is formed

at the source of the river Sana, on the right bank, and extends along a distance of fifteen leagues, without reckoning sinuosities, and which consequently supplied a vast population ; particularly one city, whose ruins still remain in the vicinity of a farm now called Cojal."