A bronze; axe; of the typi; used by teie incas in some of their reeigious 



CEREMONIES, FOUND AT MACHU PICCHU. NATURAL SIZE 



■vicinity without being- able to see what 

 was going on in the city. 



MACITU PICCHU FITS THE PICTURE 



So far as this latter condition is con- 

 cerned, Machu Picchu admirably answers 

 the requirements of the case, for it would 

 have been very easy for the Inca to have 

 kept the monks in the vicinity of Machu 

 Picchu for three weeks without their 

 having" a single glimpse of the extent or 

 beauty of this ancient city. Had they 

 been lodged in huts at the foot of the 

 mountain, only two hours' journey from 

 the city, the requirements of the chroni- 

 cle might easily have been met. The 

 monks probably knew so little of the ex- 

 tent or remarkable character of the place 

 near which they lodged that no account 

 of it could have been given to their 

 friends and eventually reported by Ca- 

 lancha. Furthermore, as has been said, 

 Machu Picchu is just about three days' 

 journey on foot from Puquiura, so that 

 this requirement is also met. 



The question remains : Is there an> 

 evidence that the last residents of Machu 

 Picchu were priests and Virgins of the 

 Sun or women of the coast valleys? 



Fortunately, Dr. George Eaton, of the 

 Peabody Museum of Yale University, 

 under whose direction a large amount of 

 skeletal material was collected in 19 12 

 from the burial caves at INIachu Picchu, 

 and who has been making a careful study 

 of this material during the past year, has 

 come to the conclusion that among the 

 skeletons there is not a single one of a 

 robust male of the warrior type. There 

 are a few eileminate males who might 

 very well have been priests, but the large 

 majority of the skeletons are female and 

 some are coast types. 



A "UNIVERSITY OF IDOLATRY" 



Until we can find some other ruin 

 within three days' hard journey of Pu- 

 quiura which answers the requirements 

 of a "university of idolatry," an impor- 

 tant religious center, containing mostly 



183 



