240 A yiKW ItOL'TE. 



ship. During his long abode in the Cordilleras Ilumboldt 

 never found any structure resembling those which are 

 teamed Cyclopean. In every edifice that dated from the 

 time of *the Incas, the front of the stones was very skil- 

 fully cut, while the back part was rugged, and often 

 angular. Before Humboldt and Bonpland visited the 

 ruins at Callo, Don Juan Larea had remarked, that in the 

 walls of the Inca's House the interstices between the outer 

 and inner stones were filled with small pebbles cemented 

 with clay. Humboldt did not observe this circumstance. 

 He saw no vestige of floor, or roof; he supposed, however, 

 that the latter was of wood. He could not decide whether 

 'the edifice had originally more than a single story, or 

 not ; as the height of its walls had been diminished no 

 less by the avidity of the neighbouring peasantry, who 

 took away the stones for their own use, than by the 

 earthquakes, to which this unfortunate country was con- 

 tinually exposed. 



He thought it probable that this edifice, as well as 

 others which he heard called at Peru, Quito, and as far as 

 the banks of the Amazon, by the name of Inca's Houses, 

 did not date farther back than the thirteenth century. 



Some time in August or September Humboldt received 

 intelligence that Baudin's expedition had sailed to New 

 Zealand, intending to pass homeward around the Cape 

 of Good Hope. This frustrated his projected visit to the 

 Philippine Islands. As he was by this time, however, 

 somewhat accustomed to having his plans thwarted, he 

 devised a new route, and as soon as it was practicable he 

 and Bonpland started upon it. About the last of Sep- 

 tember they left Quito, following the chain of the Andes 

 by the way of Assuay, Cuenca, and Loxa. 



