I83S-] ANCIENT INDIAN HOUSES. 



259 



we could not force ourselves to drink either tea or mat<5. I suppose 

 the distance from the river of Copiapd to this spot was at least twenty- 

 five or thirty English miles ; in the whole space there was not a single 

 drop of water, the country deserving the name of desert in the strictest 

 sense. Yet about halfway we passed some old Indian ruins near Punta 

 Gorda : I noticed also in front of some of the valleys, which branch off 

 from the Despoblado, two piles of stones placed a little way apart, and 

 directed so as to point up the mouths of these small valleys. My 

 companions knew nothing about them, and only answered my queries 

 by their imperturbable " Quien sabe? " 



I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the Cordillera : the most 

 perfect, which I saw, were the Ruinas de Tambillos, in the Uspallata 

 Pass. Small square rooms were there huddled together in separate 

 groups : some of the doorways were yet standing ; they were formed 

 by a cross slab of stone only about three feet high. Ulloa has remarked 

 on the lowness of the doors in the ancient Peruvian dwellings. These 

 houses, when perfect, must have been capable of containing a consider- 

 able number of persons. Tradition says, that they were used as halting 

 places for the Incas, when they crossed the mountains. Traces of 

 Indian habitations have been discovered in many other parts, where it 

 does not appear probable that they were used as mere resting-places, 

 but yet where the land is as utterly unfit for any kind of cultivation as 

 it is near the Tambillos or at the Incas Bridge, or in the Portillo Pass, 

 at all which places I saw ruins. In the ravine of Jajuel, near Aconcagua, 

 where there is no pass, I heard of remains of houses situated at a great 

 height, where it is extremely cold and sterile. At first I imagined that 

 these buildings had been places of refuge, built by the Indians on the 

 first arrival of the Spaniards ; but I have since been inclined to speculate 

 on the probability of a small change of climate. 



In this northern part of Chile, within the Cordillera, old Indian 

 houses are said to be especially numerous : by digging amongst the 

 ruins, bits of woollen articles, instruments of precious metals, and 

 heads of Indian corn, are not unfrequently discovered : an arrow-head 

 made of agate, and of precisely the same form with those now used in 

 Tierra del Fuego, was given me. I am aware that the Peruvian Indians 

 now frequently inhabit most lofty and bleak situations ; but at Copiap6 

 I was assured by men who had spent their lives in travelling through 

 the Andes, that there were very many (muchisimas) buildings at heights 

 so great as almost to border on the perpetual snow, and in parts where 

 there exist no passes, and where the land produces absolutely nothing, 

 and what is still more extraordinary, where there is no water. Never- 

 theless it is the opinion of the people of the country (although they 

 are much puzzled by the circumstance), that, from the 'appearance of 

 the houses, the Indians must have used them as places of residence 

 In this valley at Punta Gorda, the remains consisted of seven or eight 

 square little rooms, which were of a similar form with those at 

 Tambillos, but built chiefly of mud, which the present inhabitants 

 cannot, either here or, according to Ulloa, in Peru, imitate in durability. 

 They were situated in the most conspicuous and defenceless position. 



