Lives of Alcyone

custom to write particular texts always in the same colours, and to
preserve the same order.
The ancient Peruvians had no arithmetic in our sense of the
word, and all their calculations were done by means of a frame and
beads, in the manipulation of which they were most dexterous.
Astronomy was their prominent subject, all the stars having special
names of their own, though they seem to have been grouped in a
manner quite different from that which we employ at the present
day. They were also studied from an astrological point of view, and
each was supposed to have its special influence, much attention
being paid to this and to the exact moment at which certain
undertakings were to be commenced. Geography was only
imperfectly known, and the history at their command was chiefly
local, and even so was studied only by a few specialists, and not at
all as a general subject. Many folk-tales were current of the doings
of ancient Gods and Heroes, and some of these were founded upon
events of Atlantean history. There was also some vague knowledge
that a new race was being founded on the other side of the world,
but they had no definite information about the matter.
They made much of an elaborate system of physical culture, a
series of exercises not unlike the modern jinjitsu of the Japanese,
the knowledge of which was confined to the ruling class. It enabled
them to perform what looked like miracles in the eyes of the
common people and the barbarian tribes. Chemistry was liberally
studied, but purely from a practical point of view, connected, for
example, with the making of manures and plant-foods of all
descriptions. They had a good deal of machinery, though much of it
would seem to us at the present day clumsy in its construction. Both
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