The  great  public  road  which  passed  through  this  place
fer  surpassed  in  magnitude  and  utility  any  public  work
which  the  enterprise  of  his  own  countr3rmen  had  ever
attempted.  Besides  being  paved  with  slabs  of  granite
throughout  the  whole  length — ^that  is  to  say,  for  fifteen
hundred  miles — ^it  was  shaded  mth  trees  planted  ex-
pressly for  that  purpose,  and  small  houses  were  placed
at  convenient  distances  for  the  repose  and  refireshment
of  travelers.  All  these  arrangements  were  made  at  the
expense  of  the  Government;  for  the  greater  portion

*■  Herrera,  Hist.  Ind.,  Dec  iii.,  Lih.  ^ili.,  Cap.  I.
t  Herrera,  as  Above.
180  LIFE     OF     FERDINAND     DE     SOTO,


of  the  Inca^s  revenue  was  appropriated  to  such  objects
as  were  calculated  to  promote  the  comfort  and  wel&re
of  the  people  *

Among  other  signs  of  the  Incas's  good  and  efficient
government,  De  Soto  saw  three  male£Eu^rs  hanging
near  the  entrance  of  the  town.  They  had  been  exe-
cuted for  committing  outrages  upon  several  women,
and  unquestionably  met  with  the  just  reward  of  then
crimes.t

While  he  remained  at  this  pUice,  De  Soto  learned
from  one  of  the  Royal  officers  that  the  Inca,  with  his


PERUVIANS    KAMQIMQ    AT    QUANCABAMA.
army,  was  then  quartered  at  Caxamalca,  on  the  ferther
side  of  the  Cordilleras.  The  Spanish  cavalier  was  about
to  proceed  thither,  when  he  was  met  by  an  envoy  fix)m

*  Dec.  de  la  And.  Real.
f  Xeres.,  "Conq.  rem,"  ap.  Barcia,  Tom.  iii.,  p.  188.
