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Photo by Hiram Bingham 



A TYPICAL DWELLING HOUSE OE THE BETTER CLASS: MACHU PICCHU 



One of the most striking characteristics of Machu Picchu architecture is that a large 

 majority of the houses are of a story and half in height, with gable ends. These gables 

 are marked by cylindrical projecting stones, carrying out the idea of the wooden rafters, 

 which have disappeared. In the case of these two adjoining houses, the southern gables 

 alone are still standing, the northern gables having been knocked off either by earthquakes 

 or owing to the destructive forest vegetation. Had we not cleared the jungle and cut off 

 the forest trees, the right gable would soon have gone with the weight of the tree that was 

 perched on its peak, and whose roots can still be seen in the picture (see pages 455-456). 



with frank and painful surprise that we 

 read in the decree issued by the new 

 Peruvian government, in connection with 

 giving us permission to take out of Peru 

 what we had found, a clause stating that 

 we were not to injure the ruins in the 

 slightest particular, and that we must 

 neither deface nor mutilate them. I 

 could not help being reminded of the 

 fact that we had spent two days of one 

 workman's time in erasing from the 

 beautiful granite walls the crude char- 

 coal autographs of visiting Peruvians, 

 one of whom had taken the pains to 



scrawl in huge letters his name in thirty- 

 three places in the principal and most 

 attractive buildings. 



We were greatly aided in the work of 

 clearing the ruins by having with us for 

 two months Lieutenant Sotomayor, of 

 the Peruvian army, whose presence was 

 due to the courtesy of President I^eguia. 

 Lieutenant Sotomayor took personal 

 charge of the gang of Indians engaged 

 in clearing the jungle and drying and 

 burning the rubbish. As long as he was 

 allowed to remain with us he did his 

 work most faithfully and efficiently. It 



452 



