were conducted through rings or holes cut in immense buttresses of stone raised on the opposite banks of the river, and there secured to heavy pieces of timber. Several of these enormous cables, bound together, formed a bridge, which, covered with planks, well secured and defended by a railing of the same osier materials on the sides, afforded a safe passage for the traveller.'

The general characteristics of the Peruvians under the Inca government were those of a mild, peaceable people living under a paternal despotism. Their want of enterprise depended probably on the want of property in the soil, which was annually distributed among them, so that each received a share. This form of communism favoured the development of a quiet, unambitious, and unwarlike character, which was ill fitted to resist the Spanish invasion. The Inca, or king, was also the high-priest, or chief-minister of religion; and the highest aristocracy consisted of the members of the royal family, who led the armies and filled the chief offices of church and state. One Supreme Being was the central object of worship, as among the Aztecs in Mexico; but homage was also paid to many subordinate deities, and especially to the sun, as the great ancestor of the Inca dynasty. The moon was worshipped as the sister, and the planet Venus as the page, or morning and evening attendant of the sun. A class of nuns, styled 'Virgins of the Sun,' served in the temples, and, among other duties, tended the sacred fire which was lighted on a certain annual festival. The four chief festivals were celebrated at the solstices and equinoxes, when sacrifices were offered, which, on some rare occasions, included among their victims a child or a beautiful virgin.

Such were the traits of government, religion, and social life among the quiet people who fell victims to the ruthless cruelty of a base adventurer. Pizarro, a rapacious marauder, who, in other times, would have reached no higher elevation than the gallows, was the natural son of a Spanish officer. Left in a state of beggary by his father, the boy was for some time engaged as a swineherd. When he attained manhood, he joined a band of military adventurers, went to seek his fortune in the New World, and, by his courage, gained promotion to the rank of lieutenant. After following Balboa, and remaining for some time with the colony on the isthmus of Panama, he sought more exciting adventures in the regions on the south, and, having found suitable companions, sailed southwards from Panama, hoping to find some golden country. This first private enterprise was a failure; but the hopes of Pizarro were not easily discouraged. A second expedition was successful; and, after great sufferings, Pizarro and his associates anchored their vessel in the harbour of Tumbez,

within the dominions of the Inca. Here they were hospitably treated by the natives, and feasted their eyes on the gold and silver work of a temple.

Having made this reconnaissance of his intended victims, the adventurer prudently abstained from immediate hostilities, and sailed back to Panama to raise a stronger band of invaders. As the governor of the colony refused his assistance, Pizarro returned to Spain, and there was appointed governor of Peru, but left to find his own resources for the subjugation of the country. Among the first volunteers on his side were his own brothers, Hernando, Juan, and Gonzalo, and a relative named Francisco-all worthy associates in a scheme of enormous robbery. Many difficulties were encountered and overcome by their fanatical thirst for riches; and at last, with banditti numbering 180 men, and only 27 horses for cavalry, Pizarro was prepared to invade Peru. The invasion, at all times easy, was favoured by the circumstance, that at this time a disputed succession to the throne had divided the timid and defenceless people.

Landing near the haven of Tumbez, Pizarro, with his banditti, marched into the country. Murder and rapine marked their path from village to village, and the poor natives fled like sheep before a band of wolves. Gold and silver sent home to Panama excited other adventurers to sail for Peru; and having thus gained reinforcements, Pizarro boldly marched on the capital, and determined to seize the person of the reigning Inca. He succeeded by a base act of treachery, inviting the king to visit the Spanish quarters, where he was made a prisoner. The conditions offered to the Inca were, that he should immediately be baptised as a convert to the Catholic faith, and surrender his throne to Spain. These conditions were rejected with natural indignation. Meanwhile, the invader had concealed his forces in the temples and other buildings near the great square where the interview with the Inca had taken place. He now waved in the air a white scarf, as the signal of beginning the slaughter of the terrified people. The Spaniards rushed out from their hiding-places and fired upon the Peruvians. There was no battle; no resistance was offered by the unarmed natives. Stunned by the din of musketry, the miserable king saw his people falling around him under the storm of bullets, or cut down like grass and trampled under the hoofs of the fierce cavalry. His troops, regarding battle as a hopeless fight with demons of superhuman power, fled in all directions before the assassins, and thus the so-called conquest of Peru was achieved! The king was retained as a prisoner until his subjects handed over to the Spaniards a large ransom, and then he was murdered. One brave

Peruvian chieftain, who offered resistance to Pizarro, was taken, after a skirmish, and burned alive. The remainder of the story consists chiefly of the internal discords of the marauding Spaniards.

This is the simple account of an enormous crime which Mr Prescott has described in a very calm and lenient style, such as may be suitable to the history of honourable warfare, but is, we conceive, utterly out of place in narrating the career of a sanguinary outlaw like Pizarro. The historian has apparently attempted to treat the butchery at Caxamalca as a military exploit. It is true, he has not falsified any facts: he admits that the natives made no resistance; that they had no weapons; that the ferocious Spaniards were in no more danger than a sportsman encounters in the slaughter of pheasants; that, indeed, they did not lose a single man; but he throws a false dignity over the crime and its perpetrators. Without a word of indignation, he tells us that his hero saw that the hour had come;' that 'his followers shouted the old war-cry of "St Jago and at them!"' that the struggle (?) 'became fiercer than ever around the royal litter;' and so forth-but the reader who looks through the rather florid dress thrown over the massacre, will find nothing more than the fact, that Spanish ruffians shot and cut down a crowd of timid and inoffensive Indians.

BIOGRAPHY.

In this department we find several valuable works, with many others characterised by a special rather than a general interest. The section of religious biography is crowded with memoirs of eminent divines, missionaries, and other leading characters in the several churches of America. It is obvious that we cannot notice fairly any considerable number of works of this class, and to copy their titles would make our pages a bibliographical catalogue. We must therefore pass over a host of volumes, to notice a work which contains the best specimens of American biography.

JARED SPARKS, the editor of this extensive work, was born about the year 1794. His earlier writings included several essays on religious questions, and contributions to The North American Review, which remained under his editorship during the years 1823-30. In 1828, he commenced the series of American biographies, and since that time has chiefly devoted his studies to the illustration of the history of his country. His first

biographical work, The Life of John Ledyard, the traveller, was followed by a Life of Governor Morris, and The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution—the latter published in twelve volumes, in the years 1829-31. In 1833, he commenced the publication of The Life and Writings of Washington, which was completed in twelve volumes, the last appearing in 1840. This was followed by a complete edition of the works of Benjamin Franklin, with a continuation of his autobiography and explanatory

notes.

The Library of American Biography already includes twentyfive volumes. In the first series of ten volumes, the editor wrote the lives of Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, and Father Marquette, the French discoverer of the Mississippi. Among the other contributors to this extensive work, the names of the brothers EVERETT, PRESCOTT, WHEATON, CHARLES F. HOFFMAN, HENRY REED, and GEORGE HILLARD, may be mentioned. The several important contributions to historical biography by Mr Sparks, display remarkable fidelity and diligence of research. His style is sober and correct, but deficient in animation and variety.

As specimens of numerous memoirs which might be noticed if our space would allow, we may mention SABINE'S Sketches of the American Loyalists; RAYNER's Life of Jefferson; ELLIS's Life of Penn; The Letters of Mrs Adams, wife of the second president; and TICKNOR'S Life of Daniel Webster. In the department of religious biography, examples of works of general interest are found in GURLEY's Life of Ashmun, a tribute to the memory of a good man who devoted his labours to the African colonisation in Liberia; the Life of Boardman, another contribution to the history of Christian missions; GAMMEL's Life of Roger Williams; and M'LURE'S Lives of the Fathers of New England.

The well-known biographical works of WASHINGTON IRVING have been mentioned in a general review of his writings. We may add the remarks, that his Life of Goldsmith can bear no comparison with the elaborate biography written by Mr Forster, and that the Life of Mohammed has been generally regarded as deficient in the critical investigation required in following the statements of Oriental writers. Irving's latest work, the Life of George Washington, is necessarily rather historical than biographical; for it may be said of the hero of the revolution, that he scarcely had at any time a private life. 'All his actions and concerns, almost from boyhood, were connected with the history of his country.' Throughout the work, Irving has been largely

indebted to the researches of that laborious and conscientious contributor to national literature-Jared Sparks; but the manuscripts of the correspondence of Washington have also been consulted and carefully collated with 'Washington's writings,' as edited by Sparks.1

The following notices are appended as curiosities in the biographical literature of America. The first requires no preface to indicate its general and scientific interest: the second is selected not merely as unique of its kind, but also as having a rather important purport with regard to the state of culture and popular taste in England and America.

LAURA BRIDGMAN.

Condillac, and other writers who regarded the senses as the only sources of intelligence, might have found some difficulty in explaining the case of a child deprived of sight and hearing, and almost destitute of smell and taste, yet capable of receiving and combining many ideas.

Laura Bridgman, born in 1829, when two years old was attacked by a violent fever, and lost the senses of sight and hearing, while that of smell was almost destroyed, and taste was much impaired. Thus the imprisoned soul of the child had only one door by which communication could take place with the surrounding world. The one sense of feeling was left as the only channel through which she could receive impressions and ideas from nature and her fellow-creatures. To educate a mind thus isolated seemed hopeless. The results of the experiment are so interesting, that readers will probably wish to know something of the process, conducted under the direction of Dr Howe.2 At four years of age, the general health of the blind, deaf, and dumb child improved, and she began to exert the sense of touch more actively; followed her mother about the house, felt her arms and hands when they were engaged in various domestic duties, and imitated their motions. Her affections expanded-something like stubbornness appeared, but this might be merely the result of her condition. Gentle patting on the head seemed to be understood as indicating approbation; on the back, disapprobation.

1 It was intended that a more proportionate notice of Irving's Life of Washington should be given in this place; but though the work has long been announced as on the eve of publication, the first volume is all that has hitherto appeared.

2 The following account is condensed from the very interesting narrative by Dr Howe. See Ninth Annual Report of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind.