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The same mists that hang round the origin of the Incas continue to settle
on their subsequent annals; and, so imperfect were the records employed
by the Peruvians, and so confused and contradictory their traditions, that
the historian finds no firm footing on which to stand till within a century
of the Spanish conquest.16 At first, the progress of the Peruvians seems
to have been slow, and almost imperceptible. By their wise and temperate
policy, they gradually won over the neighboring tribes to their dominion,
as these latter became more and more convinced of the benefits of a just
and well-regulated government. As they grew stronger, they were enabled
to rely more directly on force; but, still advancing under cover of the same
beneficent pretexts employed by their predecessors, they proclaimed
peace and civilization at the point of the sword. The rude nations of the
country, without any principle of cohesion among themselves, fell one
after another before the victorious arm of the Incas. Yet it was not till the
middle of the fifteenth century that the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui,
grandfather of the monarch who occupied the throne at the coming of the
Spaniards, led his armies across the terrible desert of Atacama, and,
penetrating to the southern region of Chili, fixed the permanent boundary
of his dominions at the river Maule.
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