Evening star., 1916-01-01
||NCAS CITY OF PERU
| SHOWN IN PICTURES
Archaeological Finds Told of in
Exhibition at National Geo.
graphic Society.
EXPEDITIONS CONDUCTED
BY PROF. HIRAM BINGHAM
More Than $4,000 Photographs
Taken, But Only About 200
Are OH View

| The storN of Machu Picchu. the Inca
city of Peru the discovery of which. by
| Prof Hiram Bingham, ranks as one
| of the most important archaeological
| finds in the history of the Americas. Is
| told in an exhibition of photographs by
the National Geographic Society, in
| lHubbar rd Memorial Hall. at 10th and NJ
| streets northwest, in connection with
| the second Pan-American Scientlhc
Congress. The exhibition opened
Thursday.
Prof. Bingham has been the director
of the Peruvian expeditions which
were sent out under the joint auspices
of the National Geographic Society and
Yale University in 1911, 1912, 1914 and
1915.
The photographs shown in this eX-
hibition are a record of the most fascl-
mating chapters of the work OF lhe
several expeditions in this wonderiuI
land of the high Andes. where lost
civilization his been unearthed, ana
a foundation laid for researches whlch
may give back to the world d little
portion of the story of pre-Columbiah
America story that was lost when
the Jealous conquistadores. with piouS
purpose. tried to blot out what seemed
to them works of evil and offenses
against the Most High. The fate that
befel the Aztecs in highland Mexico
and the Mayas in lowland Yucatan and
Guatemala also overlook the lncas IN
Peru.
But. although their civilization was
destroyed. neither the torch of con-
quistadore nor the tooth of time could
overcome the traditions Of its exist
ence, and out of the haze of legend
stood the fact that as the Incas re-
treated before the oncoming Spaniards
they carried with them the sacred en-
III
into the mountain fastness of the high
Andes, in the hope that there their
affairs would not be profaned or their
rites interfered with.
Sought to Keep Religion Alive.
And there, remote from travelled
roads, with high attitudes and forbid
ding precipices to defend them, they
set UP their shrines and sought to keep
alive and hand down to their posterity
the religion of their fathers.
But their hopes were not realized.
What fate befeu them history does
not tell, and even tradition stands
dumb to inquiry.
In 1911 Prof. Bingham went to Peru
to locate their shrine, and found the
one at Nusta Ispana, near Vitcos, the
last lncas capital While working
there he followed the slender threa ds
of attenuated clues which came to his
attention with the trained zeal of "a
born archeoiogist, and soon found him
self the dtscoverer of an ancient capi-
tai surprising in grandeur anything
that had yet been unearthed in Peru.
1t was Machu Picchu, capital of the
Inca empire in its palmieSt days, a
city with about two hundred import
ant edifices, built OF white granite, in
Guiding shrines, palaces, temples. baths
and fountains.
1t was to this, their ancient capital
that the Incas finally retreated, a hid
ing place so secure that the Spaniards
seem never to have discovered them.
Their end here is shrouded in deepest
mystery.
Machu Picchu's uncovered. studied,
photographed masonry is full and as
romantic as was the nebulouS legend
Of the unknown city: for there is still
much inpeRetrable mystery about the
places past. The photographs show
the inaccessible region. which prob
ably was the birthplace as well as the
burial grounds of the oldest civiiiza-
tion in the new world, and represent
in detail all that remains of ancient
Inca splendor to the modern world.
Besides the Inca remains are depicted
the present-day types of Indians who
dwell in these mountains.
Object of the Exhibition.
The object of the exhibition is to
the Photographic results of the expedi-
tions. More than 1900 photographs
were taken in connection with the ex-
plorations. constituting remarkable
record of the work. The general col
lection includes more than 1000 pic
lures Of Peruvian Indian types be-
tween 1000 and 1000 pictures of ruins
more than 1000 pictures representing
the manners and customs of Peruvian
mountaineers and 1000 pictures repre-
Senting the topography of the high
Andes. Although there are only about
200 pictures in the exhibit, these have
been selected TO tell vivid story un-
incumbered with TOO great a mass of
detail.
groups so as to bring out the following
special points: Ancient shrnes and sa-
cred places, scenery in the grand can
yons of the eastern Andes, the great
ruins of Machu Picchu. the celebrated
lost city of the 1ncas; Peruvian indus
tries, such as agriculture, yiticulture
and sheep raising; Indian costuI. es.
preSentday Peruvian types: methods
and difficulties of transportation, the
/ first ascent of Mount Coropona, l,703
feet, and the pictorial results of the
expedition of 1915, which has just re
! turned.
| The work undertaken by the various
| expeditions has included not only
| topography, physiography and geology,
| but also archaeology, anthropology,
| botany and zoology.
Difficulty in Getting Pictures.
| Speaking of the difficulties of pho
| Biography in the Peruvian highlands,
where his party made one of the most
: complete Photographic records ever
prepared by scientific expedition,
Prof. Bingham said today to a reporter