New-York tribune., 1877-11-10
EXPLORATIONS IN PERU.
,,rrrR FRoM PROFESSOR oRToN.

IETTER FROM fhOf tNCOh OhAOA''
100 AND rs ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF
THE PGACE-MANCo CAPAC.
...o,, AZ OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrnUNE
T,PAz Bolivia, March, 1S77.-To the historian
,.,is no city in South America so interesting as
- The heaTt OF a wonderful empire. the prze
III. Snauish cOuquerors. and almost untouched
- T-..ser, civilization. 10 offers 70 the antiquarian
~ " ,osf important feid for study 1t Is the Rome
W t.,,,-irent aud doubtless 10 once the
- dazzling city in the New World.
c.,., does not compare i'm situation with its
- .ival Twenty volcanoes, presided over by
.-lrc,l, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, rise ont of a
'-iI,,e coarrecatiou Of mountains surrounding the
s,,,.s Valley of Quito. Cuzco has nothing of this;
.l.-s,s nothing imposing or beautiful In ITS site.
T..,,ney is too high 20 show any variety of vege-
+.ior. wheltcorl and potatoes are the main crops
,-f+e hills are treelcss and charactcrless. One
s,,.-ela9 peak would bc a relief. rs population
e,tiy decreased within the last twenty years.
r. claims 27 600 but certainly there are not over
- 600 miles, the docs are counted in The popula-
.i of Peru has always been oyerestimated; the last
,o.rs reduced it amazingly. Tn two respects, Cuzco
t,t.s the precedence.-in containing the most mar
.n,1s masonry I'm the New World, and IN being the
eltbiest civ I'm the whole world viii not soil the
rnrIish LANGUAGE by describing the s.2hts and
SCENES visible every day from centre to clrcum-
f.rcnce One wants 10 expire only. The streets are
,arr1w and nearly as irregular as those of Boston
,rd the Huatanay passes through the middle OF the
cifv. much of the wav walled i'm by ancient revet-
,-r1ts of polvangular stones. The Grand Plaza
which has seen SD much history, is of unusual sze
brr hardly O square, beng about 400 by 800 ieet
The golden chain, which Huayua Canac maze III
honor OF Din, first born son. Is sad to have reached
around two sides OF this Plaza. Instead OF 'i''S
(which Spanish Americans seem To hate' 'heie u
be.p of rubbish. and q stone fountain erected pF
tr- couqucrors fifty veafs after they entered 'he
city. 1,-,-r
Thor, are many strange mixtures in Cuzco. The
tr,l1rc. are of mud raised on massive foundations
adobe ON stone: the upper half Catholic and modern
Tho lower he1thcu and antique. The churches were
cha3u1v bunt for the demolished temples ol the
Snr furnished cut stone in abundance the
inside down position of many stones hetfa5s
their origin Where Inca princes and spanish
b.dllros trod proudly, is now the most sqnaiiu
,oy.r+v. In those same carved stairvays and
around those stone columns, NOPE filthy specimens
oftumaoitv aud the court Is q sea ofmUd PHarro S
house is the abode OF mueteers and their beasts The
altite Of the city is 200 feet and the mean an
nuqI temperature. so. Il Is said 20 ram thirteen
months I'm the wear There is not stove or chim-
NOV I'm all Cuzro. the sun is the fireplace by day,
and iU the evening gentlemen sit IN their paroTs
y-rquped ND ike mummies. The climate neces-
st4tas oH within and cloaks without. There is
mover o. theatre. Onera or lecture; and the public
museum has gone to dust. Wheeled vehicles, teie-
rraubs. cas. and steam or q motive power, are un-
known There is not pound Of coal IN the cltv ;
and she donkey load of sticks. brought twenty
miles. costs ! 20. Kerosene rs - a gallon. Inc
only ,vy-mlIl i'm the department rs down the Valley
4-.r 9 .tsrrt and
a board three wards long. eleven inches wide and
an inch thick lthe standard slzel costs a dollar
Yet Irving IN Cuzco is cheap. An entire house rents
for S12 "a month meat Is twenty cents pound;
wheat ~ go per $50 lbs. potatoes ~ bushei.
The most important article Of commerce rs coca, or
which 900 arrphas are produced annually, worth
So an arroba In Cuz-o. The second is the wool OF
alplca and sheep The land yields thlty-tour
bushels of wheat 70 tbe acre. or twenty told, ana
twentv-scyen of maize or nine fold. Sueh Is the
scarstv of fractional currency, the people cut reals
and uostage--t amps iu two and m the country red
peppers and soap are used for change. There Is no
country in the world richer m mines than Peru yet
there are few Governments financially lower There
is no land where the people talk more Of union; vet
revolutions are a. common as earthquakes. Half
the republic should he called "No hav,'-in Quichua,
'Ntricaucha. in plain English, There is nothing;
such is the destutiou of the very necessares OF life
However the poverty OF the Indians Is largely due
to Spanish ayaIicc and worthless curates.
The question must inevitably arise in the minds
Of every traveller. Why was Cuzco chosen as the
scat Of "a great empire? There is nothing Tcmarka-
bly, fine in its Typographical situation. To be sure,
two fine valleys. those from Urubamba and Iinta,
lead mp 70 IT. But then lbs great altitude. uncom-
Portable climate and want Of fuel and water for in
the dry season water is very scarce in Cuzcol are
against it. Strange that q site where the sell
dom shines should be selected by sun-worhippers.
There mo- chance In this thin air for athletic games
which maintain the youth aud vigOr OF nation. Ii
Is not the place where men are seen with sleeves
rolled up for work. In fact | see nothing i'm this
land o pouchos 70 insure the prosperity and growth
OF a great people. We might expect a low style Of
humanity from the fact that low forms of animal
life prevail in these high attitudes the herbivorous
llama and deer represent tine quadIupeds water
fowl birds: batrachiaus. reptiles and catfish the
fnny tribe. can only suppose that Nance Capac
or who ever founded Cuzco Indianlike, sought it rs
aretrclt from other nations The aboriginal Of to-
dav hies away from the coast and from towns TO the
fastuesses of secluded valleys Of the mountains
Foresr-claa REGIONS seem 10 have been left by the
Incas probably on account Of the difficulty of fell
ing the trees with copper and stone axes. They
used those tracts treecss by Nature
But is inconceivable that nation should flour
ish with such drawbacks without iron with nc
domestic animal larger or stronger than the feeble
llama: without meat save fish by the seaside and
an occasional deer-sheep and cattle being late in
Productions: with 10 better far1aceOus food than
corn and that of coarse variety judged by samples
In their cemeteries: with potatoes and pgnuts fol
vegetables without written language and there
fore no literature with nothing better for commerce
than balsa. with rush-nat for sail; ignorant