*17
[Footnote 17: See Codex Tel-Remensis, Part 4, Pl. 22, ap.
Antiquities of Mexico, vol. I. London, 1829.]
But, if less successful in exploring the heavens, the Incas must
be admitted to have surpassed every other American race in their
dominion over the earth. Husbandry was pursued by them on
principles that may be truly called scientific. It was the basis
of their political institutions. Having no foreign commerce, it
was agriculture that furnished them with the means of their
internal exchanges, their subsistence, and their revenues. We
have seen their remarkable provisions for distributing the land
in equal shares among the people, while they required every man,
except the privileged orders, to assist in its cultivation. The
Inca himself did not disdain to set the example. On one of the
great annual festivals, he proceeded to the environs of Cuzco,
attended by his Court, and, in the presence of all the people,
turned up the earth with a golden plough, - or an instrument that
served as such, - thus consecrating the occupation of the
husbandman as one worthy to be followed by the Children of the
Sun. *18
[Footnote 18: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 16.
The nobles, also, it seems, at this high festival, imitated the
example of their master. "Pasadas todas las fiestas, en la
ultima llevavan muchos arados de manos, los quales antiguamente
heran de oro; i echos los oficios, tomava el Inga an arado i
comenzava con el a romper la tierra, i lo mismo los demas
senores, para que de alli adelante en todo su senorio hiciesen lo
mismo, i sin que el Inga hiciese esto no avia Indio que osase
romper la tierra, ni pensavan que produjese si el Inga no la
rompia primero i esto vaste quanto a las fiestas.
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