344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192-4 



devoted mainly to sheep, of which they have about 15,000 head. 

 The altitude is about 12,500 feet. The grazing here is fine. 



The road to Cuzco continues over a great plateau 13,000 to 14,000 

 feet altitude, passing over a divide at 14,153 feet and descending to 

 Cuzco at 11,000 feet. Cuzco is one of the old Inca cities and shows 

 much evidence of Inca architecture. The Spaniards destroyed a 

 large part of the old city, but many of the foundation walls remain 

 upon which modern structures have been built. One can discern 

 at a glance the difference between the old and the new. The old 

 Inca walls are much more substantial and better made as a rule. 

 In the outskirts are the well-known ruins of extensive fortifications, 

 which I examined with interest and of which I took several photo- 

 graphs. The old walls are remarkable for the great size of many 

 of the stones, weighing many tons. The largest stone is said to 

 weigh 361 tons, and some of them to measure 27 by 14 by 12 feet. 

 The second remarkable feature of the walls is the perfect fitting of 

 the stones which are set without mortar or cement. 



Through the kindness of officials whom I met at Cuzco I was able 

 to make a trip on a new railroad to Ollantaytambo and by horse 

 about 12 miles further down the valley toward Santa Ana. the 

 ultimate destination of the road. 



At Ollantaytambo there are more Inca ruins. On top of a very 

 steep hill are several fine walls. Also there are 6 large stones 13 

 by 7 by 6 feet. How were they brought up here? The stones for 

 all the structures were brought from a quarry many miles away. 

 The builders had no beasts of burden except the inefficient llama, 

 and no iron for instruments. 



TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF PERU 



In a general way the topography is similar to that of Ecuador. 

 There is a coastal plain between the mountains and the Pacific 

 Ocean ; a mountain mass, the Cordillera, extending north and south ; 

 and to the east a forested slope in the Amazon Valley. These three 

 regions are usually referred to as La Cuesta, the Sierra, and the 

 Montana. 



The coastal plain (La Cuesta) is extremely dry and, with the 

 plain of northern Chile, constitutes one of the great desert regions 

 of the world. There are numerous rivers, however, fed by mountain 

 snows, that find their way across the desert to the ocean. The 

 valleys of these rivers are occupied by an agricultural population 

 that utilizes to the full the water for irrigation. As there are no 

 railroads running north and south to connect these centers of XDopu- 

 lation, there is little communication between them. In most cases 

 the area of cultivation is some distance from the coast and the 

 towns are connected with a seaport by a short railroad. The outlet 



