HO-\ORS TO A.ML'XDSEX AND PEARY 



117 



was very important aiul were anxious to 

 study it more, and to try to find out 

 something about its builders. We could 

 find nothing in the chronicles anywhere. 

 No one, with the exception of a few In- 

 dians, had ever heard of it. The name 

 was not known in Cuzco, only a few 

 days' journey away. Nobody in Lima 

 had heard of it. 



Fortunately, owing to your interest, 

 and largely through your generosity, we 

 were able to go back this year and spend 

 four months and a half at Machu Picchu. 

 We spent about $2,000 simply in clearing 

 the tropical jungle from these ruins and 

 excavating them, taking off the dirt and 

 decayed foliage that had accumulated for 

 many centuries. 



\\'e found the city had 150 houses, 

 built of white granite ; palaces, temples, 

 and more especially stairways. We un- 

 covered over 100 stairways of white 

 granite, containing a total of more than 

 2,000 steps. This does not include sev- 

 eral stairways leading oft' into the jungles 

 and up the side of the mountains, one of 

 which was nearly half a mile in length. 



We found also that ]\Iachu Picchu was 

 a city essentially of windows. Standing 

 at one point, after we had cleared the 

 ruins, we could count in the walls of the 

 houses about 55 windows — a very extra- 

 ordinary occurrence. This fact leads me 

 to believe that ]\Iachu Picchu was the 

 ])lace from which the Incas came when 

 they started for Cuzco and established 

 the Inca Empire. 



When we went down there last year 

 we were looking for Vitcos, the last capi- 

 tal of the Incas. By accident, in running 

 down those ruins, we stumbled on the 

 first Inca capital. As it was owing to 

 vour generosity that we were able to 

 make these and several other important 

 discoveries, I take great pleasure in 

 thanking you on behalf of Yale Uni- 

 \ersity. We hope eventually to be able 

 to prove by our excavations and the ma- 

 terial we have brought away the connec- 

 tion of Machu Picchu with the later Inca 

 Empire.* 



*An early number of the N.\tion.\l Geo- 

 graphic M.\G.\zi.\K will contain a complete ac- 

 count, with 150 illustrations, of Dr. Bingham's 

 remarkable discoveries. 



Till; TOAST.M.VSTER, ROBERT E. IM-AKV 



I may say, supplementary to Dr. Uing- 

 ham's brief, modest, and interesting re- 

 marks in regard to his work, that his 

 discoveries of these ancient cities have 

 astounded the scientists of the world. 



We have with us tonight the beloved 

 familiar face of our old, tried, and true 

 friend, an indefatigable globe-trotter, who 

 has been everywhere on earth except, 

 perhaps, at the poles. He is the repre- 

 sentative of our cousins across the sea, 

 one of whom, Shackleton, pioneered the 

 way to the South Pole, and another of 

 whom, Scott, is still down there, or, as 

 we hope, may be now on his way home 

 with a splendid record of exploration 

 and scientific work. 



I do not know what Ambassador Bryce 

 is going to talk about any more than you, 

 nor do I need to know ; but whatever he 

 says will be worth saying and it will be 

 well said. 



His Excellency the Right Honorable 

 James Bryce, Ambassador from Oeat 

 Britain. 



ADDRESS BY THE BRITISH AMB.VSSADOK, 

 MR. BRVCE 



Mr. President, Mr. Toastmaster, ladies 

 and gentlemen: I am very much honored 

 by being asked to say a few words to you 

 this evening, and I feel that it is a real 

 privilege to be present on an occasion 

 so historic that it makes us all feel as if 

 we were historic figures ourselves. This 

 is an occasion — a conjunction of discov- 

 erers — that has never happened before 

 and can never happen again. 



My friend. Professor liingham, says 

 that he felt cold in the neighborhood of 

 the poles. I have the honor of being 

 between the two i)oles and therefore in 

 a warm climate. I suppose I cannot call 

 myself the Equator, for that honor be- 

 longs to your President, who is exactly 

 in the middle. May I claim, being nearer 

 the South Pole, to represent the tropic 

 of Capricorn ? 



It is a great occasion, ladies and gen- 

 tlemen, when we meet both of the dis- 

 coverers of these two remotest and least 

 accessible parts of our earth. They have 

 accomplished that which all nations have 



