MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA, SHOWING THE DISTRICTS OF THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST 9 A PERUVIAN CASSE-TETE AND A PIPE OF PEACE 50 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN, CUZCO 53 INDIAN HUTS ON THE RIVER CHIPURANA 54 THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN, AS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF CORDOVA'S VOYAGE 91 PEASANTS OF ST. MICHAEL PROCEEDING TO DEL GADO 158 ARMS OF THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL 192 ARMS OF UNITED KINGDOMS OF PORTUGAL, THE ALGARVES, AND BRAZIL 192 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, RIO DE JANEIRO 197 SKETCH-MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA 293 SOUTH AMERICA CHAPTER I THE CONTINENT IN PRE-SPANISH DAYS The discovery of South America stands as one of the most dramatic events in history. From the time of its occurrence until the present so deeply has this event impressed itself on men's minds that the previous state of the Continent has been a somewhat neglected topic. The Incas and their civilization, it is true, have attracted no small share of attention to themselves, and the subject has become more or less familiar to the average English reader through the medium of the work of Prescott, who has been followed by a number of later writers, many of whom have dealt very exhaustively with this subject. Yet, after all, the Incas, for all their historical importance, occupied but a very small portion of the territories of the Southern Continent. Beyond the western fringe of the Continent which was theirs by heritage, or by conquest, were other lands--mountainous in parts, level in others, where the great river basins extended themselves--which were the chosen hunting and fishing grounds of an almost innumerable number of tribes. The degree of civilization, or, more accurately speaking, of savagery which characterized these as a whole necessarily varied to a great extent in the case of each particular tribe. Nevertheless, from the comparatively high culture of the Incas down to the most intellectually submerged people of the forests and swamps, there were certain characteristics held in common by all. This applied not only to a marked physical likeness which stamped every dweller in the great Continent, but to customs, religious ceremonies, and government as well. Concerning the origin of the South American Indians interminable disputes have now raged for generations, but that in the case of all the various tribes the origin was the same has never, I think, been controverted. The most common theory concerning the origin of the South Americans is that this was Mongolian.