people one to another. Each province had its own costume, which might not be changed for any other, and every one's birthplace was marked by a ribbon of a certain colour surrounding his head.[1] In a word, the Jesuits appear to have copied the constitution of the Peruvian society when they organized their famous Paraguay missions, and perhaps this fact may help us to trace the profound motives which in either case suggested so minutely precise a system of inserting individuals into assigned places which left no room for self-direction. The Incas and the Jesuits alike had to contend against the disconnected, incoherent turbulence of savage life, and both alike were thereby thrown upon an exaggerated system of regulations, in which each individual was swaddled and meshed in supervisions and ordinances from which it was impossible to escape.
Having said so much, we must acknowledge that, generally speaking, the Incas made a very humane and paternal use of their absolute power. They
- ↑ Garcilasso, Lib. iv. cap. viii., Lib. v. capp. vi. vii. viii. xiii.; Acosta, Lib. vi. capp. xiii. xvi.; Montesinos, p. 57.
