Photo by Hiram Bingham 

 PART OF THE SACRED PLAZA: MACHU PICCHU 



One of the gable ends of the three-windowed temple. Notice the tremendous size of 

 the granite blocks in the lower part of the wall. The small ventilating window, of which 

 there is one in each end of the building, is not visible when the structure is looked at from 

 below, and does not affect the striking character of the three large windows in the east wall 

 of this building (see pages 408, 431, and 489). 



and specimens down to the mule trail 

 near the river. 



SOME RAPID BRIDGE BUILDING 



At the most feasible point for building 

 a foot-bridge the Urubamba is some 80 

 feet wide. The roaring rapids are di- 

 vided into four streams by large boulders 

 in the river at this point. The first reach 

 is 8 feet long, the next nearly 40 feet, 

 the next about 22 feet, and the final one 

 15 feet. 



For material in the construction of the 

 bridge Mr. Heald had hardwood timber 

 growing on the bank of the stream ; for 

 tools he had axes, machetes, and picks — • 

 all made in Hartford — and a coil of 

 manila ro])e. For workmen he had 10 

 unwilling Indians, who had been forced 

 to accomj^any him by the governor of 

 the nearest town. For "guide, counsellor, 

 and friend" he had an excellent Peruvian 

 soldier, who could be counted on to see 

 to it that the Indians kept faithfully at 

 their task. In describing his work, Mr. 

 Heald says : 



"The first step v/as the felling of the 

 timber for the first two reaches. That 



was quickly done and the short 8-foot 

 space put in place. Then came the task 

 of getting a stringer to the rock forming 

 the next pier. My first scheme was to 

 lay a log in the water, parallel to the 

 bank and upstream from the bridge, and, 

 fastening the lower end, to let the current 

 swing the upper end around until it 

 lodged on the central boulder. On try- 

 ing this the timber proved to be so heavy 

 that it sank and was lost. 



"We next tried building out over the 

 water as far as we could. Two heavy 

 logs were put in place, with their butts 

 on the shore and their outer ends pro- 

 jecting some 10 feet beyond the first 

 span. The shore ends were weighted 

 with rocks and cross-pieces were lashed 

 on with lianas (sinewy vines), making 

 the bridge about 4>4 feet wide, as far 

 as it went. Then a forked upright 10 

 feet high was lashed and wedged into 

 place at the end of the first pier (see 

 Fig. I. page 422). 



THE CROSSING ACIIIEVI-D 



"A long, light stringer was now pushed 

 out on the Cf)mpleted part and the end 



417 



