Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-21
Incas Excelled as Wall and Road
Builders and as Irrigators.
LONGEST OF SNOWY RANGES
Sorata to Illimani-View of Sixty
Miles of Snow Mountains Among
the Highest in the world.
No. III.
By THEODORE W., MOVES.
;sI t-orrasnondenco re Tho Sfor

| bana peninsula lies Titicaca,- or the sa-.
cred Island of the Sun. on which the
famous temples and palaces were built,
| which the Copocabana pilgrims came to
| visit. Titicaca. six miles long by four
wide. is the largest island in the lake.
Southeast from Titicaca and only
| a few miles distant is Coat. the sacred
| Island of the Moon. the temples on
these islands ranked with that of Cuzco
as the hottest and richest in the realm
of the 1ncas. They were consecrated by
the. Inca in person with most elaborate
and impressive ceremonials. in the course
of which animals were sacrificed on the
| holy Rock of the Sun, which was later
covered with gold and silver, and a huge
disk Of gold. representing the sun. was
/ laid upon the altar. Not only temples, but
royal palaces, mOnasteries and sanctu
aries were built on the islands. The de-
scriptions of these structures by writer's
| in English, based on the statements or
rOmances of the Spanish chroniclers, give
an Impression of unsurpassed ricnes and
luxury and architectural achievement.
| We are told that the buildings, though of
| only one story in height. were of vast eX-
| tent and grandeur; constructed of carved
stone. transported painfully from the
| mainland; that the walls and ceilings
|
to the value Of millions of dollars; that
| the floors when not gold plated were
| pavel with marble of different colors.
| like mosaic work, and that the baths CT
| carved marble were as sumptuous as
| those of Italy and Greece.
| To visit the remains of these temples
and palaces we landed first at vilcac-
caima, on the southeast corner CT
! Titicaca. where we scrambled with diff
| ficu1ty at that high altitude up the hill
side and examined Inca steps and terrace
walls, and the fragmentary remains of
the walls Of few one-story rootiess
| buildings.
The stone work is rough and crude, and
there seems to be nothing upon which
| the imagination can fasten to reconstruct
magnificent original The Inca palaces
and temples as Prescott describes them
were un impressive in height. seldom ex
ceeding in this dimension twelve or
fourteen feet. simple in exterior
ornamentation. giving the effect of
solidity and strength rather than of
| architectural elegance. The. stones in
| the thick walls were uneven in size and
| laid without cement in irregular courses
| The palace consisted of many low rooms
| covering in the aggregate wide area
and opening by doors on an inner court.
There was no connection between the
different rooms, and 1t is disputed whether
| in any Of the palaces the rooms were
provided with any openings for illumina-
ton except the door. The roofs were of
| In striking contrast with the roughness
| of the exterior Of these structures was
the richness of the interior ornamental
| ton. through the lavish use of gold and
! silver.
These characteristics of the Inca struc-
| lures explain to some extent the COM
pleteness OF their ruin. The roofs have
quickly disappeared. The Spaniards first
gold built into them and to uncover buried
treasure: then the Indians have for GEN.
turtles been using the sandstone OF the
ruins as today's build'n material, and.
| excavations completed the work of de-
struction. But even after this series of
devastatiOns one might expect to find
something of significance suggesting the
past and its glories. and is disappointed
| to see only remains Of rude stone novels
which might have been built last year
and broken down this year and which
lack carvings. mosaics, hieroglyphics.
coreees and o hpse
! embellishments which suggest an ad-
vanced civilization.
-fhe. remains at Tiohuanaco. not far
from the lakes edge on the Bolivian side.
are INTELLECTUALLY impressive. in huge
monoliths. hewn and carved. One door
way which remains, carved out of single
stone. seven by fourteen feet. is covered
with figures deliberately sculptured in
high relief and on this foundation the
magnificent temple. But these proofs Of
the ancient civilization are not credited
to the Incas. but to an earlier race, who
desiened and built more grandly than the
Incas.
The most enduring and impressive work
of the Incas was neither temple nor pal
ace. but the great walls. to a considerable
extent still standing. of the fortress of
blocks OF hewn' stone so finely wrought
though without the aid of instruments of
iron. that the line Of junction between
them is not detected. Many Of these
thirty-eight feet long. eighteen feet broad
and six feet high, and all were trans
ported for miles without the aid OF beasts
OF burden from the 1uarries to Cuzco. 1t
Is related that 0;on men were occupied
for fifty years in building the fortress.
Akin to the wall-bulding work at Cuzco
is the road-huilding herculean labor. which
spread broad, smooth roads for thousands
Of miles through the mountains and noun
famous plateau OF the Inca empire.
The palaces OF old Egypt have van
ished: its towering temples remain OF
the old New World structures Of Central
America and Mexico. the temples are
gone. but some palaces have survived. OF
the Inca structures all that is character
istic Of both temples and palaces seems
to have persisted. but fortress walls and
traces Of great roads abide.
The Inca walls and roads thus corre-
Nv
temples. pyramids. obelisks and coiumned
halls Of Egypt; to the mosaics. primitive
columns and traces OF freSco paintings of
Militia. Mexico: to the stucro adornments
carved tablets and hieroglyph!cs of Pa
lenque: to the magnificent buildings and
sculptured facades Of Uxmal and to the
curiously carved colossal .dols and the un-
decipherable hieroglyphics Of Copan. After
due consideration has been gwen to all the
Inca structural rema ms. the conclusion
will perhars be reached that the great
ness OF the 1rcas was not as architects
and hOuselhuilders. but as unsurpassed
wall-builders and as daring and indom-
liable road-builders Of remarkable en1i-
neerinE ability. and the worlds finest
irrigationists and so -develor ers the orig
inal American conseryat onists centuries
before Pinchot.
The Incas' Baths.
Our landing at Umani on Titicaca thu
supposed site OF the royal baths, while
disappointing from the archaeological point
| OF view, was piea.ant as an ext ursion
Seen from the lake the island rises from
| the shore IN a series Of ancient terraces
| beautiful In their symmetry. A little
stream trickies down the hillside into the
lake It's course marked by a lire of
vivid green. On thu lake shore in the
dians some OF them drying the frozen
potatoes which are the staple food of the
| plateau. A steep. narrow path, rising
| for NEST Of the way In steps, follows the
course OF the stream on the hillside
!! climbing through series Of garden ter
| races in which flowers Of the temperate
zone grow iuxuriantly, and passing. now