countries, Hesper replies, That the human body is composed of a due
proportion of the elements suited to the place of its first formation;
that these elements, differently proportioned, produce all the changes
of health, sickness, growth and decay; and may likewise produce any
other changes which occasion the diversity of men; that these elemental
proportions are varied, not more by climate than temperature and other
local circumstances; that the mind is likewise in a state of change,
and will take its physical character from the body and from external
objects: examples. Inquiry concerning the first peopling of America.
View of Mexico. Its destruction by Cortez. View of Cusco and Quito,
cities of Peru. Tradition of Capac and Oella, founders of the Peruvian
empire. Columbus inquires into their real history. Hesper gives an
account of their origin, and relates the stratagems they used in
establishing that empire.


High o'er his world as thus Columbus gazed,
And Hesper still the changing scene emblazed,
Round all the realms increasing lustre flew,
And raised new wonders to the Patriarch's view.

He saw at once, as far as eye could rove,
Like scattering herds, the swarthy people move
In tribes innumerable; all the waste,
Wide as their walks, a varying shadow cast.
As airy shapes, beneath the moon's pale eye,
People the clouds that sail the midnight sky,
Dance thro the grove and flit along the glade,
And cast their grisly phantoms on the shade;
So move the hordes, in thickets half conceal'd,