Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/26

8 de Solorzano digested the numerous laws in the 'Politica Indiana,' and the prolific legislation of the Viceroy Toledo is embodied in the 'Ordenanzas del Peru,' published at Lima in 1683. All the lawyers who studied the subject express their admiration of the government of the Incas.

The geographers were the local officials who were ordered to draw up topographical reports on their several provinces. Most of these reports were written between 1570 and 1590, and they naturally vary very much in value. The 'Relaciones Geograficas de Indias (Peru)' were published at Madrid in four large volumes, between 1881 and 1897.

The priests were the most diligent inquirers respecting the native religion, rites and ceremonies. The first priest who came with Pizarro was the Dominican friar, Vicente de Valverde. He wrote a 'Carta Relacion' on the affairs of Peru, and some letters to Charles V, containing original information, but he left the country in 1541, and was there too short a time for his writings to be of much value. The best known clerical author on Peru was the Jesuit Josef de Acosta, who was born at Medina del Campo in 1540, and was in Peru from 1570 to 1586, travelling over all parts of the country. He then went to Mexico, and died at Salamanca in 1600. His great work, 'Historia Natural de las Indias,' in its complete form, was first published at Seville in 1590. Hakluyt and Purchas gave extracts from it, and the whole work was translated into English in 1604