noLMEs] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 277 



rracturc, in which obhini;- lioU\s weiv workcil to a mnsiderajili' (U'lilli. in'cciscly 

 ill llic iiianncr now ]»ractice(]. The presumption is stron.i;' lliat \ve(l.L;('s of 

 (U'v wood were <,lriven into these holes and water turned into the i;roove. Tlie 

 swelling of tlie wood would evenly split off tlie block. This device is prol)al)ly 

 almost as ancient as the art of stonecnitting itself. I found some disks of hard 

 stone in. this quarry, with holes through their center, as if for tlu' reception of 

 handles, which may have been used in rough-(h"essing or hammering the stones 

 into shape. 



The distanc(> of this quarry from Cuzco is ;ibont 22 miles. How the stones 

 \V(M-e transported thither is not easy to say; but as the Iiicas had no beasts of 

 draft it must havi" been done through the direct application of Innnan force. 

 With a redundant and disciplined iiopulatioii under absolut(> control w(> can 

 understand how the Incas could combine the power of numbers in a most 

 eflicient manner.^ 



Tu nnother place Squier's visit to these (jiiarries is gniphicully de- 

 scribed : 



This is the old Inca road leading to the porphyry quarries, whence the giant 

 stones of the Fortress of Ollantaytambo were obtained. AVe follow this to Ibe 

 very extremity and brow of the headland, over which they were toppled, slid- 

 ing down 2,000 fec^t into the valley. The plane worn in tluMr descent is distinct, 

 and lying around us are blocks more or less sha])eil artificially, which the n]ipari- 

 tion of the Spaniards prevented the ancient worknuMi from launching down to 

 tluMr destination. IIow these blocks were got across the swift and turbiileiif 

 river, in th(> bed of which some still remain, I do not attemi)t to ex|>lain. 

 Starting back along the ancicMit quarry ]-oad. we constantly encountered blocks 

 of poriihyi'y. entirely or i)aiily liev.n, some in the middU? of the road and 

 others lying by its sides.^ 



^ Squicr, Peru: Incideuls ot'Trnvi'l iiuil lOxploration in the Land iit" the Incas, pp. 

 418-410. 



- Iliid., p. 50S. 



