" *46
[Footnote 45: Relacion del Primer Descub., Ms. - Cieza de Leon,
Cronica, cap. 37. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11. -
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 13.]
[Footnote 46: "Cette chaussee, bordee de grandes pierres de
taille, puet etre comparee aux plus belles routes des Romains que
j'aie vues en Italie, en France et en Espagne . . . . . . Le
grand chemin de l'Inca, un des ouvrages les plus utiles, et en
meme temps des plus gigantesques que les hommes aient execute."
Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 294.]
The system of communication through their dominions was still
further improved by the Peruvian sovereigns, by the introduction
of posts, in the same manner as was done by the Aztecs. The
Peruvian posts, however, established on all the great routes that
conducted to the capital, were on a much more extended plan than
those in Mexico. All along these routes, small buildings were
erected, at the distance of less than five miles asunder, *47 in
each of which a number of runners, or chasquis, as they were
called, were stationed to carry forward the despatches of
government. *48 These despatches were either verbal, or conveyed
by means of quipus, and sometimes accompanied by a thread of the
crimson fringe worn round the temples of the Inca, which was
regarded with the same implicit deference as the signet ring of
an Oriental despot. *49
[Footnote 47: The distance between the posthouses is variously
stated; most writers not estimating it at more than three fourths
of a league.
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