The christianized Indians of the Inca dynasty, whose native tongue is Quichua,—for we do not at present speak of the savage, or half-christianized Pano, and other yet unsettled tribes of the Montaña,—are said to be an indolent race; but we have had the opportunity of knowing that their exertions will increase as the prospect of bettering their condition expands, and that in general their labour is only conducted in a slothful manner when it is compulsory, or to themselves unproductive. We have had ample opportunity to know, that when they labour by “_tarea_” or piece-work, and are sure of their wages, they work remarkably well. On their own little farms they are truly hard labourers; and, if they were not so often pounced upon by enemies to industry, the fruit of it would be seen in their growing prosperity. It is those who tyrannize over them who accuse them of laziness, duplicity, and natural perverseness of disposition. Of such persons we may be allowed to ask, Have they ever afforded the Indian any rational encouragement to honesty and industry? Have they ever, by fair dealing, persevered in the experiment of deserving the confidence, of conciliating the affections, or of calling forth the kindly sympathies of these humbler sons of the soil? What virtue, except patience, were they permitted to disclose under Spanish oppression—(would it were mitigated under the patriot system!)—when their masters supplied them with the necessaries of life just on what terms they pleased, and when the Indians could realize no property, however much they redoubled their toil, for in general the fruit of their labour was not their own? The Indians for the most part are an agricultural people, for more live by tillage than mere pasturage or any other occupation. Many of the modern villages in the temperate climate of the interior were, not many years ago, large farms, possessed by Europeans or their creole descendants; but the labourers, set free at the revolution in consequence of the confiscation of the goods and property of their fugitive or ruined masters, have continued to cultivate the land for their own maintenance, till by degrees their families have swelled into villages, and at length assumed the important character of municipalities. With a few years of undisturbed peace, and exemption from undue exactions, small villages may thus arise and become considerable towns, wherever the locality happens to afford sufficient scope for cultivation. But as it often occurs that the Indian hamlet is erected on a pinnacle, or on the brow of a hill, around which there is but little suitable soil for the spread of agricultural industry, the consequence is that the father divides and subdivides the same piece of ground among the rising members of his progeny, till at length the means of subsistence become too scanty for the support of the whole family, and, the supernumeraries must seek employment in the mines or elsewhere, as they best may.