the health of the laborer; a striking contrast to his subsequent condition
under the Spanish rule.31

A part of the agricultural produce and manufactures was transported to
Cuzco, to minister to the immediate demands of the Inca and his Court.
But far the greater part was stored in magazines scattered over the
different provinces. These spacious buildings, constructed of stone,
were divided between the Sun and the Inca, though the greater share
seems to have been appropriated by the monarch. By a wise regulation,
any deficiency in the contributions of the Inca might be supplied from
the granaries of the Sun.32 But such a necessity could rarely have
happened; and the providence of the government usually left a large
surplus in the royal depositories, which was removed to a third class of
magazines, whose design was to supply the people in seasons of scarcity,
and, occasionally, to furnish relief to individuals, whom sickness or
misfortune had reduced to poverty; thus, in a manner, justifying the
assertion of a Castilian document, that a large portion of the revenues of
the Inca found its way back again, through one channel or another, into
the hands of the people.33 These magazines were found by the
Spaniards, on their arrival, stored with all the various products and
manufactures of the country,--with maize, coca, quinua, woolen and
cotton stuffs of the finest quality, with vases and utensils of gold, silver,
and copper, in short, with every article of luxury or use within the
compass of Peruvian skill.34 The magazines of grain, in particular,
would frequently have sufficed for the consumption of the adjoining
district for several years.35 An inventory of the various products of the
country, and the quarters whence they were obtained, was every year
taken by the royal officers, and recorded by the quipucamayus on their
registers, with surprising regularity and precision. These registers were
transmitted to the capital, and submitted to the Inca, who could thus at a