IN THE WONDERLAND OF PERU 



403 



I. 



the; city of machu picchu, the; cradle; 

 OF the; IXC a e;mpire: 



In 191 1, while engaged in a search for 

 \'itcos, the last Inca capital, I went down 

 the Urubamba Valley asking for reports 

 as to the whereabouts of ruins. 



The first day out from Cuzco saw us 

 in Urubamba, the capital of a province, 

 a modern town charmingly located a- few 

 miles below Yucay, which was famous 

 for being the most highly prized winter 

 resort of the Cuzco Incas. The next day 

 brought us to Ollantaytambo, vividly de- 

 scribed by Squier in his interesting book 

 on Peru. Its ancient fortress, perched 

 on a rocky eminence that commands a 

 magnificent view up and down the val- 

 ley, is still one of the most attractive 

 ancient monuments in America. 



Continuing on down the valley over a 

 newly constructed government trail, we 

 found ourselves in a wonderful cafion. 

 So lofty are the peaks on either side that 

 although the trail was frequently shad- 

 owed by dense tropical jungle, many of 

 the mountains were capped with snow, 

 and some of them had glaciers. There is 

 no valley in South America that has such 

 varied beauties and so many charms. 



Not only has it snow-capped peaks, 

 great granite precipices, some of them 

 2,000 feet sheer, and a dense tropical 

 jungle ; it has also many reminders of 

 the architectural achievements of a by- 

 gone race. The roaring rapids of the 

 Urubamba are frequently narrowed by 

 skillfully constructed ancient retaining 

 walls. \Mierever the encroaching preci- 

 pices permitted it, the land between them 

 and the river was terraced. With pains- 

 taking care the ancient inhabitants res- 

 cued every available strip of arable land 

 from the river. On one sightly bend in 

 the river, where there is a particularly 

 good view, and near a foaming water- 

 fall, some ancient chief built a temple 

 whose walls, still standing, only serve to 

 tantalize the traveler, for there is no 

 bridge within two days' journey and the 

 intervening rapids are impassable. On a 

 precipitous and well-nigh impregnable 



cliff, walls made of stones carefully fitted 

 together had been placed in the weak 

 spots, so that the defenders of the valley, 

 standing on the top of the clitT, might 

 shower rocks on an attacking force with- 

 out any danger of their enemies being 

 able to scale the clifif (see pages 405 and 

 419)- 



The road, following in large part an 

 ancient footpath, is sometimes cut out of 

 the side of sheer precipices, and at others 

 is obliged to run on frail brackets 

 propped against the side of overhanging 

 cliffs. It has been an expensive one to 

 build and will be expensive to maintain. 

 The lack of it prevented earlier ex- 

 plorers from penetrating this canon. Its 

 existence gave us the chance of discover- 

 ing ]\Iachu Picchu (see pages 405, 420, 

 421, 423). 



On the sixth day out from Cuzco we 

 arrived at a little plantation called Man- 

 dorpampa. W^e camped a few rods away 

 from the owner's grass-thatched hut, and 

 it w:.s not long before he came to visit us 

 and to inquire our business. He turned 

 out to be an Indian rather better than 

 the average, but overfond of "fire-water." 

 His occupation consisted in selling grass 

 and pasturage to passing travelers and in 

 occasionally providing them with ardent 

 spirits. He said that on top of the mag- 

 nificent precipices near by there were 

 some ruins at a place called Alachu Pic- 

 chu, and that there were others still more 

 inaccessible at Huayna Picchu, on a peak 

 not far distant from our camp. He of- 

 fered to show me the ruins, which he had 

 once visited, if I would pay him well for 

 his services. His idea of proper pay- 

 ment was 50 cents for his day's labor. 

 This did not seem unreasonable, although 

 it was two and one-half times his usual 

 day's wage. 



Leaving camp soon after breakfast 1 

 joined the guide, and, accompanied by a 

 soldier that had been kindly loaned me 

 by the Peruvian government, plunged 

 through the jungle to the river bank, and 

 came to a shaky little bridge made of 

 four tree trunks bound together with 

 vines and stretching across a stream only 

 a few inches above the roaring rapids. 



