THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 49 



structures were built long before the dominion of the Incas ; and 

 I have heard the Indians affirm that these sovereigns constructed 

 their great building a;t Cuzco after the plans of the walls of 

 Tihuanico." The most remarkable thing in these ruins are the 

 great doorways of a single block of stone. The largest of these 

 is ten feet high and thirteen broad, the opening cut through it 

 being six feet four inches high, and three feet two inches wide. 

 The whole neighborhood is strewn with immense blocks of stone 

 elaborately wrought, equaling if not surpassing in size any 

 known to exist in Egypt, India, or any part of the world. Some 

 of these are thirty feet long, eighteen broad, and six thick. 



All these gigantic remains of a past civilization are found in the 

 lofty table-land of the Puna. When these come to be fully 

 described and illustrated, it will be seen that here, in a climate 

 so cold that hardly a vegetable will grow which man can use for 

 food, were planted the seeds of a civilization as remarkable as 

 any which ever existed. More wonderful, perhaps, than these 

 great architectural works were the great military roads con- 

 structed by the Incas. One reached from Cuzco down to the 

 ocean. The other stretched from the capital, along the very 

 crest of* the Cordilleras, and down their ravines, to Quito, 1,200 

 miles distant. The length of these great roads, including 

 branches, was not less than 3,000 miles. Modern travelers com- 

 pare them with the best in the world. They were from eighteen 

 to twenty-five feet broad, paved with immense blocks of stone, 

 sometimes covered with asphaltum. In ascending steep moun- 

 tains, broad steps were cut in the rock ; ravines were filled with 

 heavy embankments flanked with parapets, and, wherever the 

 climate permitted, lined with shade trees and shrubs, with houses 

 at regular distances for the accommodation of travelers, and 

 specially serving as post-stations. For there was a regular 

 postal service by which the Incas could send messages from one 

 extremity of their dominion to the other. This service was per- 

 formed by runners ; for the Peruvians had no beasts of burden 

 stronger or swifter than the llama. These messengers were 

 trained to great speed. On approaching a station they gave a 



