A state thus constituted may be considered like one great family, in which the union of the members was so complete, and the exchange of good offices so perceptible, as to create stronger attachment between man and man than subsisted under any other form of society in the new world. The Peruvians were advanced far beyond any of the nations in America, both in the necessary arts of life, and in such as have some title to be called elegant. Agriculture was carried on by the Peruvians with a good deal of skill. They had artificial canals to water their fields; and to this day the Spaniards have preserved and use some of the canals made in the days of the Incas. They had no plough, but turned up the earth with a kind of mattock of hard wood. The men labored in the fields with the women, thus showing the advance of civilization over the rude tribes which imposed all the drudgery upon females. The superior ingenuity of the Peruvians was also obvious in their houses and public buildings. In the extensive plains along the Pacific Ocean, where the sky is always serene and the climate mild, the houses were, of course, very slight fabrics. But in the higher regions, where rain falls and the rigor of the changing seasons is felt, houses were constructed with great solidity. They were generally of a square form, the walls about eight feet high, built of bricks hardened in the sun, without any windows, and the door strait and low. Many of these houses are still to be seen in Peru. But it was in the temples consecrated to the sun, and in the buildings intended for the residence of their monarchs, that the Peruvians displayed the utmost extent of their art. The temple of Pachacmac, together with a palace of the Inca and a fortress, were so connected together as to form one great structure, nearly two miles in circuit. Still this wide structure was not a very lofty affair. The Indians, being unacquainted with the use of the pulley and other mechanical powers, could not elevate the large stones and bricks which they employed in building; and the walls of this, their grandest edifice, did not rise above twelve feet from the ground. There was not a single window in any part of the building. The light was only admitted by the doors; and the largest apartments must have been illuminated by some other means. The noblest and most useful works of the Incas, were their public roads. They had two, from Cuzco to Quito, extending, uninterruptedly, above fifteen hundred miles. These roads were not, to be sure, equal to our modern turnpikes; but at the time Peru was discovered there were no public roads in any kingdom of Europe that could be compared to the great roads of the Incas.