Photo by Hiram Bingham 



IN THE king's group: MACHU PICCHU 

 A portion of the interior of this group, showing the great care exercised in the stone-fitting 



NOTES ON THE TIMBER 



All species are infected with parasites 

 and all ages of trees seem to be subject 

 to them. The worst damage is done to 

 the fast-growing young trees. 



In the bottoms the trees are tall, clean, 

 and straight, running up to over lOO feet 

 in height and 3 feet in diameter. The 

 average is about 18 inches in diameter 

 and 80 feet in height. On the lower 

 slopes the growth is more uniform, with 

 a slightly lower average size. There are 

 a few healthy patches of timber, but they 

 are only of occasional occurrence and 

 limited to a few areas. 



The timber in the valley bottoms aver- 

 ages 5,000 board-feet per acre, with a 

 maximum of 10,000 over limited areas. 

 On the slopes the average is 3,000 board- 

 feet, with little variation. These are con- 

 servative ocular estimates. 



The rugged character of the country 

 makes logging of any but timber in bot- 

 toms impracticable. Trails are few and 

 very bad ; labor is scarce and uncertain. 

 Should a railroad enter the valley as 

 planned it will be possible to carry on 

 profitable logging operations with port- 

 able mills. There is a good supply of 

 timber for ties. 



The next thing to be done would be 

 to make a collection of samples, so that 

 the qualities of the various hardwoods 

 might be tested. Such tests would bring 

 out definite facts about their value. Some 

 of them are undoubtedly woods of high 

 technical qualities as well as of beautiful 

 grade and color. 



Mr. Stevenson's map of Machu Picchu, 

 the result of a three months' survey, is 

 on a scale of i inch = 20 feet, with a 

 contour interval of 10 feet, and consists 



480 



