Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

“Frezier says the Indians were very industrious in conveying the waters of the rivers through their fields and to their dwellings, and that there were still to be seen in many places Aqueducts formed of earth and stone, and carried along the sides of hills with great labor and ingenuity.”

“I have had various opportunities,” says a recent traveller, “of closely examining one of these canals, which is formed at the source of the river Sana, on the right bank, and extends along a distance of fifteen leagues, without reckoning sinuosities, and which consequently supplied a vast population; particularly one city, whose ruins still remain in the vicinity of a farm now called Cojal.”

“These Aqueducts were often of great magnitude, executed with much skill, patience and ingenuity, and were boldly carried along the most precipitous mountains, frequently to the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues. Many of them consisted of two conduits, a short distance apart; the larger of these was for general use; the other and smaller, to supply the inhabitants and water the fields, while the first was cleansing; a circumstance in which they bear a striking resemblance to those of Mexico.”

Molina, in his “Natural and Civil History of Chili,” observes, that previous to the invasion of the Spaniards, the natives practised artificial irrigation, by conveying water from the higher grounds in canals to their fields. Herrera says, many of the vales were exceedingly populous and well cultivated, “having trenches of water.”

The Peruvians carried the system to a great extent. “How must we admire, (says Humboldt,) the industry and activity displayed by the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians in the irrigation of arid lands!

“In the maritime parts of Peru, I have seen the remains of walls, along which water was conducted for a space of from 5 to 6000 metres, from the foot of the Codilleras to the coast. The conquerors of the 16th century destroyed these Aqueducts, and that part of Peru has become, like Persia, a desert, destitute of vegetation. Such is the civilization carried by the Europeans among a people, whom they are pleased to call barbarous.” These people had laws for the protection of water, very similar to those of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and all the older nations; for those who conveyed water from the canals to their own land before their turn, were liable to arbitrary punishment.

Several of the ancient American customs respecting water, were identical with those of the oldest nations.

They buried vessels of water with the dead. The Mexicans worshipped it. The Peruvians sacrificed to rivers and fountains. The Mexicans had Tlaloc, their god of water. Holy water was kept in their temples. They practised divinations by water. The Peruvians drew their drinking water from Deep Wells, and for irrigation in times of drought, they drew it from pools, and lakes, and rivers.

There is reason to believe that Peru, Chili, and other parts of the southern continent, were inhabited by a refined, or partially refined people, centuries before the time of Manco Capac, the first Inca; and that a long period of barbarism had intervened, induced, perhaps, by revolutions similar to those which, in the old world, swept all the once celebrated nations of antiquity into oblivion. The ancient Peruvians had a tradition respecting the arrival of giants, who located themselves on the coast, and who dug wells of immense depth through the solid rock; which wells, as well as cisterns, still remain.

There is much uncertainty respecting Manco Capac. Who he was, and from what country he came, are equally unknown. According to their Quippus, or historical cords, and the opinion of the Inca, who was uncle to Garcilasso, and who communicated to the latter all the knowledge of their ancestors then extant, he made his appearance in Peru about 400 years before the invasion of the Spaniards. It is said he was whiter than the natives, and was clothed in flowing garments. Awed by his presence, they received him as a divinity, became subject to his laws, and practised the arts he introduced. He founded Cusco, and extended his influence to all the nations around. He taught them agriculture and many useful arts, especially that of irrigating land. His son succeeded him, and without violence greatly extended the limits of the kingdom; prevailing with the natives, it is said, by a peaceable and gentle manner, “to plough, and manure, and cultivate the soil.” His successors pursued the same mode, and with the same success. The fifth Inca, we are informed, constructed Aqueducts, bridges and roads in all the countries he subdued. When the sixth Inca acquired a new province, he ordered the lands to be “dressed and manured;” the fens to be drained, “for in that art (draining) they were excellent, as is apparent by their works, which remain to this day; and also they were (then) very ingenious in making Aqueducts for carrying water into dry and scorched lands, such as the greatest part of that country is; they always made contrivances and inventions to bring their water. These Aqueducts, though they were ruined after the Spaniards came in, yet several reliques and monuments of them remain unto this day.”