The number of dialects totally differing from each other, which are spoken by the Indian inhabitants of this kingdom, is very great, and it was the same during the time of the Incas; to remedy which inconvenience, those sovereigns instituted a general language, which they ordered all the chiefs who came to their courts to speak; it was called the Quichuan, or language of the Incas; and was that which prevailed in the capital; and so unbounded was the power of these princes, that the Quichuan was soon learnt, even in the most remote provinces, and continues to the present day to be the general tongue of the Peruvians, who are averse to making any efforts to obtain a knowledge of the Spanish; so that the priests consider it as indispensably necessary to become acquainted with the Quichuan, in order to retain the Peruvians in their power. The sounds _b_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _r_, are wanting, but the language is harmonious, and its grammar as variegated and artificial as the Greek. A work has been published at Lima on this subject; and great pains have been used to render it well known. At the time of the conquest, Peru was named by its inhabitants TAVANTIN-SUYU, or the Four Parts. That on the east, in which was Cuzco, was named _Colla-suyu_, or the east part; that of the west or coast, _Chinchay-suyu_; that of the north, _Anti-suyu_; and that of the south _Conti-suyu_; which titles, with some alterations, were retained till very lately, in the best maps. The names of most of the principal places, are still Quichuan; and so little is the Spanish language and power spread in this country, the first of their conquests, that upwards of sixty unsubdued nations or tribes, are said to exist within its territories; though these have been greatly straitened by the formation of the new government, of which it now becomes necessary to give a description. VICEROYALTY OF _BUENOS AYRES, OR LA PLATA_. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. This government is the most extensive and one of the richest kingdoms of the New World. It is bounded on the north by the vast steppe of the Amazons, or, according to some authorities, by that noble river itself; on the east the territories of the Portuguese and the Atlantic ocean are its limits; on the west it is divided by the Andes from Peru and Chili, having also a province bordering on the South Sea; and on the south its bounds are the Pampas and Patagonia. From Cape Lobos in the Atlantic to the most northerly settlements on the Paraguay its extent may be estimated at 1600 miles; and from Cape St. Antony, the mouth of the Plata, to the Andes of Chili, its breadth is at least 1000 miles. POLITICAL AND TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS, &c. This country was erected into a viceroyalty in 1778, and at that time several provinces were added to it from Peru and Chili. At present it is divided into five governments, Los Charcas, Paraguay, Tucuman, Cuyo, and Buenos Ayres, which are again subdivided into departments and districts.