ANCIENT INDIAN HOUSES. 117 



ed on the lowness of the doors in the ancient Pe- 

 ruvian dwelhngs. These houses, when perfect, 

 must have been capable of containing a considera- 

 ble number of persons. Tradition says that they 

 were used as halting-places for the Incas when they 

 crossed the mountains. Traces of Indian habita- 

 tions 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 sit- 

 uated at a great height, where it is extremely cold 

 and sterile. At first I imagined that these build- 

 ings had been places of refuge, built by the In- 

 dians on the first arrival of the Spaniards ; but I 

 have since been inclined to speculate on the proba- 

 bility of a small change of climate. 



In this northern part of Chile, within the Cor- 

 dillera, old Indian hoxLses are said to be especially 

 numerous : by digging amongst the ruins, bits of 

 woollen articles, instruments of precious metals, 

 and heads of Indian com are not unfrequently dis- 

 covered : an arrow-head made of agate, and of pre- 

 cisely the same form with those now used in Tier- 

 ra del Fuego, was given me. I am aware that the 

 Peruvian Indians now frequently inhabit most lofty 

 and bleak situations ; but at Copiapo I was assu- 

 red by men who had spent their lives in travelling 

 through the Andes, that there were very many (mu- 

 chishnas) 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 extraor- 

 dinary, where there is no water. Nevertheless, it 



