_ 1 ; THE ROADS OF THE I. WAS. 



They found placed at nearly equal distances apart, sta- 

 tions consisting of dwelling-houses built of well-cut stone 

 These stations were a kind of caravanserai, and were 

 called Tambos, and Inca-houses. Some were surrounded 

 by a kind of fortification ; others were constructed for 

 baths with arrangements for conducting hot water. The 

 largest of them were designed for the use of the family 

 of the Monarch himself. 



There were two great artificial Peruvian paved roads 

 or systems of roads, covered with flat stones, or some- 

 times even with cemented gravel. One passed 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 dis- 

 tances, were often found at regular intervals. The 

 road was conducted across rivers and deep ravines by 

 bridges of stone, wood, and rope. Both systems of roads 

 were directed to the central point, Cuzco, the seat of 

 government of the great empire. As the Peruvians em- 

 ployed no wheel carriages, and the roads were con- 

 sequently only designed for the march of troops, for men 

 carrying burdens, and for lightly-laden lamas, Hum- 

 boldt and Bonpland found them occasionally inter- 

 rupted, on account of the steepness of the mountains, by 

 long flights of steps, provided with resting-places at 

 suitable intervals. Francisco Pizarro and Die^o Al- 

 magro, who on their distant expeditions used the military 

 roads of the Incas with so much advantage, found great 

 difficulties for the Spanish Cavalry at the places where 

 these steps occurred. The impediment presented to their 

 march on these occasions was so much the greater, be- 

 cause in the early times of the Conquista, the Spaniards 



