The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-13
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coast near Tumbez, captured by the
wild Indians of those parts, and (ac-
| cording to the story devoured.
A City of Indians.
Though essentially a Spanish city
in its edifices, Cuzco is predominant
w Indian in its people. The Quichua
language is that commonly spoken.
and IT is the Indian aborigines who
give TO the aspect of its streets and
squares the piCturesquenes which
half atones for squalor.
They set up their little booths
sometimes covered with canvas. along
the arcades and in the plazas, and
loaf about in their bright-colored
ponchos and broad, fiat, straw hats,
the dry weather side Of the straw COW
cred with a sort of velveteen adorned
with tinsel, and the wet weather side
with red flannel. Women lean over
the rough wooden balconies on the
/ first floors of the houses and talk 10
the loungers in the plaza below.
Strings of llamas bearing their bur
dens pass along the only creatures
who do any work. There are scarcely
any wheeled vehicles. for those who
are not forced by poverty TO walk
ride mostly on donkeys and the only
events are saints days, with their pro-
cessions. occurring so frequently that
the habit Of 1aziness has unequaled OPP
portunities for confirming itself
Now let us turn from the Cuzco or
the last three and a half centuries
back to the olden time and see what
remains Of the ancient city OF the
sun and of the Incas. his chudren
| Whoever has read, as most of us ola
in our boyhood, of the marVels or the
Peruvian empire which Plzarro de-
stroyed brings an ardent curiosity 70
] saf ryTAT a
expects to find many monument or
it's glories.
Walls That Tell OF Inca Glory.
The reality Is disappointing, yet It
is impressive The interest of the re-
mains lies entirely IN what they tell
us about their builders, for there is
nothing beautiful, nothing truly ar
tistic. to describe The traces of the
Incas to be seen in CuZco, and. indeed,
anywhere in Peru, are all of one kind
only. They are walls. No statue, no
painting, no remains of a complete
rooted building, either temple or pal
ace-nothing but ruins. and mostly
2 fragmentary ruins. The bosom OF
Spanish destruction swept clean.
Everything connected with the old
religion had to perish; priests and
friars took care of that. As for other
buildings, it did not occur to anybody
to spare them.
But the walls at Cuzco are remark
able. They are unique memorials. not
only of power and persistence, but in
a certain way Of skill also not in
/ decorative art. for of that there Is
scarcely trace left. but of high
degree Of experiences In the cutting
and fitting together Of enormous
( blocks.
Most of the streets Of the modern
city follow the lines of ancient pre-
( CONQUEST streets, and in MANY Of these
there are long stretches of wall from
six to eight to sixteen or eighteen feet
in height SO entirely unlike Spanish
buildings that their Inca origin is un-
questionable. They are of various
types, each Of which probably belongs
TO an epoch of its own.
Typical Inca Walls.
The most frequent. and apparently
the latest type, shows very large
blocks Of a dark gray rock. cut 70 a
uniform rectangular oblong form, the
outer faces. which are nearly smooth
land slightly convex, being cut in to-
wards the Jennings Of the other stones.
The blocks are fitted together with the
utmost care, so close to one another
that 1t is no exaggeration TO say that
a knife can seldom he inserted be-
tween them. The wall which they
make slopes very slightly backwards,
and. in most cases, the stones are
smaller in the upper layers than in
the lower
Two such walls enclose q long and
narrow street which runs southeast
ward from the great Plaza. They are
in perfect preservation, and sustain In
some places the weight of modern
houses built upon them. They are
very few apertures for doors or win
dows. but one high gateway furnishes
a good specimen Of the Inca door and
is surmounted by long slab on which
are carved in relief. quite rudely, the
figures Of two serpents,
IN other places one finds waits of
the same character, but with smaller
blocks and less perfect workmanship
OF a third type the wall Of the So
called Palace of the Inca Roca is the
best instance 1t is what we call in
Europe Cyclopean building, the
blocks enormous and OF various
shapes, but each carefully cut and
adjusted 10 the inequalities of outline
in the adjoining blocks, so that all
fit perfectly together. One famous
stone shews twelve angles into which
the stones above, below and at each
side of it have been made to fit.
In none of the walls is any mortar
or any other kind Of ccmenting ma
terial used: their strength consists in
their weight and in the cxactness with
which they are Compactcd together.
The Ruins of the Temple of the sun
The most beautifully finished piece
of all is to be seen in the remains Of
the great Temple Of the sun on whose
site and out of whose ruins have been
built the church and convent Of ST
Dominica Here, at the west end OF
the church. there is what was evil
IDENTIFY the external wall of the end
-of the temple. 1t is rounded. and
each Of the large squared stones is sc
cut as to conform perfectly to the
curve of the whole. None of the single
stones has the convexity which APP
pears in the walls first described, be-
cause the surfaces of all have been
leveled and polished so that they
form one uniformly smooth and uni
formly curved surface, as if they were
all one block.
A more exquisite finished piece oil
work cannot be imagined. 1t is al
least as good as anything of the same
kind in Egypt, and stands as perfect
now as II was when the Spaniards de.
stroyed the superstructure of the
temple.
The city is full Of these fragments
of wall. | discovered in outeof-the
way corners some that were support
ing little terraCed garden beds, Others
in back yards or even in pigsties
The Incas built immense covered halls
we are told, of one two hundred