THE PLATEAU OF CAXAMAECA. 393 



The solemn impression which is felt on beholding the 

 deserts of the Cordilleras, is increased in a remarkable and 

 unexpected manner, by the circumstance that in these very 

 regions there still exist wonderful remains of the great road 

 of the Incas, that stupendous work by means of which, com- 

 munication was maintained among all the provinces of the 

 empire along an extent of upwards of 1000 geographical 

 miles. On the sides of this road, and nearly at equal 

 distances apart, there are small houses, built of well- cut free- 

 stone. These buildings, which answered the purpose of sta- 

 tions, or caravanseries, are called Tambos, and also Inca- 

 Pilca, (from Pircca, the Wall). Some are surrounded by a 

 sort of fortification; others were destined for baths, and had 

 arrangements for the conveyance of warm water : the larger 

 ones Mere intended exclusively for the family of the sovereign, 

 At the foot of the volcano Cotopaxi, near Callo, I had pre- 

 viously seen buildings of the same kind in a good state of pre- 

 servation. These I accurately measured, and made drawings 

 from them. Pedro de Cieca, who wrote in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, calls these structures Aposentos de Mulalo (3). The pass 

 of the Andes, lying between Alausi and Loxa, called the 

 Paramo del Assuay, a much frequented route across the Ladera 

 de Cadlud, is at the elevation of 15,526 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and consequently almost at the height of Mont 

 Blanc. As we were proceeding through this pass, we expe- 

 rienced considerable difficulty in guiding our heavily laden 

 mules over the marshy ground on the level height of the 

 Pullal ; but whilst we journeyed onward for the distance of about 

 four miles, our eyes were continually rivetted on the grand 

 remains of the Inca Road, upwards of 20 feet in breadth. This 

 road had a deep under-structure, and was paved with well- 

 hewn blocks of black trap porphyry. None of the Roman 

 roads which I have seen in Italy, in the south of France and 

 in Spain, appeared to me more imposing than this work of 



