*30
[Footnote 30: Condamine, Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de
Berlin, tom. II. p. 448. - Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib 4, cap. 4. - Acosta, lib. 6,
cap. 14. - Ulloa, Voyage to S. America, vol. I. p 469. -
Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]
The architecture of the Incas is characterized, says an eminent
traveller, "by simplicity, symmetry and solidity." *31 It may
seem unphilosophical to condemn the peculiar fashion of a nation
as indicating want of taste, because its standard of taste
differs from our own. Yet there is an incongruity in the
composition of the Peruvian buildings which argues a very
imperfect acquaintance with the first principles of architecture.
While they put together their bulky masses of porphyry and
granite with the nicest art, they were incapable of mortising
their timbers, and, in their ignorance of iron, knew no better
way of holding the beams together than tying them with thongs of
maguey. In the same incongruous spirit, the building that was
thatched with straw, and unilluminated by a window, was glowing
with tapestries of gold and silver! These are the
inconsistencies of a rude people, among whom the arts are but
partially developed. It might not be difficult to find examples
of like inconsistency in the architecture and domestic
arrangements of our Anglo-Saxon, and, at a still later period, of
our Norman ancestors.
[Footnote 31: "Simplicite, symetrie, et solidite, voila les trois
caracteres par lesquels se distinguent avantageusement tous les
edifices peruviens.
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