416 PLATEAU OP CAXAMARCA. 



to the height of Mont Blanc) as we were leading our heavily laden 

 mules with great difficulty through the marshy ground on the ele- 

 vated plain del Pullal, our eyes meanwhile were continually dwell- 

 ing on the grand remains of the Inca's road, which with a breadth 

 of twenty-one English feet ran by our side for above a German 

 mile. It had a deep under-structure, and was paved with well-cut 

 blocks of blackish trap-porphyry. Nothing that I had seen of the 

 remains of Roman roads in Italy, in the south of France, and in 

 Spain, was more imposing than these works of the ancient Peru- 

 vians, which are moreover situated, according to my barometric 

 measurements, at an elevation of 12,440 (13,258 English) feet above 

 the sea, or more than a thousand feet higher than the summit of 

 the Peak of Teneriffe. The ruins of what is called the Palace of 

 the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, and which are known by the name of the 

 " Paredones del Inca," are situated at the same elevation on the 

 Assuay. Proceeding from thence to the southward towards Cuenca, 

 the road leads to the small but well-preserved fortress of Caiiar, ( 4 ) 

 belonging probably to the same period, that of Tupac Yupanqui, 

 or to that of his warlike son, Huayna Capac. 



We saw still finer remains of the old Peruvian artificial roads on 

 the way between Loxa and the Amazons, at the Baths of the Incas 

 on the Paramo de Chulucanas, not far from Guancabamba, and in 

 the neighborhood of Ingatambo, at Pomahuaca. These last named 

 remains are at a so much lower elevation, that I found the difference 

 of level between the Inca's Road at Pomahuaca and that on the 

 Paramo del Assuay upwards of 9100 (about 9700 English) feet. 

 The distance in a straight line is, by astronomically determined lati- 

 tudes, exactly 184 English geographical miles, and the ascent of the 

 road is 3500 (3730 English) feet greater than the height of the Pass 

 of Mount Cenis above the Lake of Como. There are two great arti- 

 ficial Peruvian paved roads, or systems of roads, covered with flat 

 stones, or sometimes even with cemented gravel ( 5 ) (Macadamized) ; 

 one passes through the wide and arid plain between the Pacific 

 Ocean and the chain of the Andes, and the other over the ridges of 

 the Cordilleras. Mile-stones, or stones marking the distances, are 

 often found placed at equal intervals. The road was conducted 

 across rivers and deep ravines by three kinds of bridges, stone, wood, 



