. The myths of Mexico and Peru. shappened on the ninth day of the tenth month of theyear Kan. Being completely routed, she passed to theopposite sea-coast in the southern parts of the country,which had already suffered much injury. Here we shall leave the Queen, and those who havebeen sufficiently credulous to create and believe in herand her companions. We do not aver that the illus-trations on the walls of the temple at Chichen do notallude to some such incident, or series of incidents, asDr. Le Plongeon describes, but to bestow names uponthe dramatis personce in the face of almost completei
. The myths of Mexico and Peru. shappened on the ninth day of the tenth month of theyear Kan. Being completely routed, she passed to theopposite sea-coast in the southern parts of the country,which had already suffered much injury. Here we shall leave the Queen, and those who havebeen sufficiently credulous to create and believe in herand her companions. We do not aver that the illus-trations on the walls of the temple at Chichen do notallude to some such incident, or series of incidents, asDr. Le Plongeon describes, but to bestow names uponthe dramatis personce in the face of almost completeinability to read the Maya script and a total dearth ofaccompanying historical manuscripts is merely futile,and we must regard Dr. Le Plongeons narrative as aquite fanciful rendering of probability. At the sametime, the light which he throws—if some obviouslyunscientific remarks be deducted—on the customs ofthe Maya renders his account of considerable interest,and that must be our excuse for presenting it here atsome Piece of Pottery representingTapir (from Guatemala) 247 CHAPTER VI: THE CIVILISATION OFOLD PERU Old Peru IF the civilisation of ancient Peru did not achievethe standard of general culture reached by theMexicans and Maya, it did not fall far short ofthe attainment of these peoples. But the degradingdespotism under which the peasantry groaned in Incatimes, and the brutal and sanguinary tyranny of theApu-Ccapac Incas, make the rulers of Mexico at theirworst appear as enlightened when compared with thePeruvian governing classes. The Quichua-Aymararace which inhabited Peru was inferior to the Mexicanin general mental culture, if not in mental capacity, asis proved by its inability to invent any method ofwritten communication or any adequate imitative art, too, the Peruvians were weak, save inpottery and rude modelling, and their religion savouredmuch more of the materialistic, and was altogether of alower cultus. The Country The country in
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