470 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



being in the midst of a plain : its height is betwixt 

 twenty-five and thirry toises, and so exactly, on 

 every side, formed wilh the conical roundness of a 

 sugar-loaf, that it seems to owe its form to industry ; 

 especially as the end of its slope on all sides forms 

 exactly with the ground the same angle in every part. 

 And what seems to confirm this opinion is, that gu- 

 acas, or mausoleums, of prodigious magnitude, were 

 greatly affected by the Indians in those times. Hence 

 the common opinion, that it is artificial, and that 

 the earth was taken out of the breach north of it, 

 where a little river runs, does not seem impro- 

 bable. But this is no mere than conjecture, not 

 being founded on any evident proof. In all ap- 

 pearance this eminence, now called Panecillo de 

 Callo, served as a watch-tower, commanding an un- 

 interrupted view of the country, in order to provide 

 for the safety of the prince on any sudden alarm of an 

 invasion, of which they were under continual ap- 

 prehensions, as will appear from the account of their 

 fortresses. 



About two leagues north-east of the town of 

 Atun-Canar, or great Canar, is a fortress or palace 

 of the yncas. It is the most entire, the largest, 

 and best built in all the kingdom. Close by its 

 entrance runs a little river, and the back part of it 

 terminates in a high and thick wall at the slope of 

 a mountain. In the middle of it is a kind of oval 

 tower; about two toises high from the ground with- 

 in the fort, but without" it rises six or eight above 

 that of the hill. In the middle of the tower is a 

 square of four walls ; wiiich, on the side facing 

 the country, leave no passage ; and all its angles 

 touch the circumference of the oval. On the op- 

 posite side only, is a very narrow^ pass, answering to 

 the inward part of the tower. In the middle of this 

 square is an apartment of two small rooms, without 



anv 



