256 THE PALACE OF ATAHUALLPA. 



A large and deep basin in which, according to tradition^ 

 one of the golden chairs in which the Inca was carried 

 had been sunk, and has ever since been sought in vain 

 appeared to Humboldt, from the regularity of its circulai 

 shape, to have been artificially excavated in the rock 

 above one of the fissures through which the springs 

 issued. 



Of the fort and palace of Atahuallpa there were only 

 very slight remains in the town, which was adorned with 

 some fine churches. The destruction of the ancient 

 buildings was hastened by the devouring thirst of gold 

 which led men, before the close of the sixteenth century, 

 in digging for supposed hidden treasures, to overturn 

 walls and carelesslv to undermine or weaken the founda- 

 tions of all the houses. The palace of the Inca was 

 situated on a hill of porphyry which had originally been 

 hollowed at the surface, so that it surrounded the princi- 

 pal dwelling almost like a wall or rampart. A state 

 prison and a municipal building had been erected on a 

 part of the ruins. The most considerable ruins still visi- 

 ble, but which were only from thirteen to sixteen feet 

 high, were opposite the convent of San Francisco ; they 

 consisted of fine-cut blocks of stone two or three feet 

 long, and placed upon each other without cement, as in 

 the fortress of Cannar. 



There was a shaft sunk in the porphyritic rock which 

 once led into subterranean chambers, and a gallery said 

 to extend to the other porphyritic dome before spoken 

 of. Such arrangements showed an apprehension of the 

 uncertainties of war, and the desire to secure the means 

 of escape. The burying of treasures was an old and 

 very generally prevailing Peruvian custom. Subter- 



