242 THE EAYIXE OF THE SUN. 



edifices surrounding^ tlie inclosure showed that there was 

 room enough to lodge the small army which generaMy 

 accompanied the Incas on these journeys. What was 

 curious about the Fortress of Cannar was the form of its 

 roof, which gave it the appearance of a European house. 

 As one of the first historians of America, Pedro de Cieca 

 de Leon, who began to describe his travels in 1541^ 

 says that several similar houses, which he examined in 

 the province of Los Canares, were covered with rushes, 

 this roof was probably added after the conquest of Peru 

 by the Spaniards. 



Leaving the Fortress of Cannar, the travellers came to 

 a valley hollowed out by the river Gulan. Here the)' 

 found small foot-paths cut in the rock. These paths Icl 

 to a fissure, which the ancient Peruvians called th 

 Ravine of the Sun. In this solitary spot, shaded b 

 beautiful and luxuriant vegetation, the travellers saw an 

 isolated mass of sandstone, twelve or fifteen feet high. On 

 side of this rock was remarkable for its whiteness : it wa •> 

 cut perpendicularly as if it had been worked by th- 

 hand of man. On this smooth white ground were several 

 concentric circles, representing the image of the sun. 

 They were of a blackish brown, and in the space the; 

 inclosed were features, half effaced, that indicated two 

 eyes and a mouth. Examining these circles closeh 

 Humboldt found that they were small veins of iron ore, 

 common in every formation of sandstone. The feature:: • 

 indicating the eyes and mouth, which were evident!; 

 made by some metallic tool, were probably added by tht 

 Peruvian priests to impose upon the people. When th( 

 Spaniards conquered the country, it was to the in teres, 

 of the missionaries to efface them, and it was accord- 



