primitive ruins and two or 

 three modern huts. 



IvIvACTA PATA^ the; RUINS OF 

 AN INCA castle; 



This place was called Llacta 

 Pata. We found evidence 

 that some Inca chieftain had 

 built his castle here and had 

 included in the plan ten or a 

 dozen buildings. They are 

 made of rough stones laid in 

 mud, with the usual symmetri- 

 cal arrangement of doors and 

 niches. It would be interest- 

 ing to excavate here for three 

 or four weeks and get suffi- 

 cient evidence in the way of 

 sherds and artifacts to show 

 just what connection the peo- 

 ple who built and occupied 

 this mountain stronghold had 

 to the other occupants of the 

 valley. 



After measuring the ruins 

 (see plan, page 556) and tak- 

 ing a few photographs (see 

 page 555), I asked the Indians 

 how far it was to the next 

 group of ruins, and was told 

 it was "two or three hours' 

 journey." 



Possibly it could be done by 

 an Indian runner, with noth- 

 ing to carry, in four or five 

 hours, but we had three mules, 

 that is, our two saddle-mules 

 and the one pack-mule, whose 

 load, weighing about 100 

 pounds, included a small tent, 

 cooking outfit, blankets, and 

 enough provisions for five 

 days. 



Although I had selected for 

 this journey one of the best 

 and strongest p a c k-m u 1 e s 

 which we possessed, and al- 

 though his load was not much 

 more than a third of what he 

 could comfortably carry on a 

 good road, he found it impos- 

 sible to carry this load over 

 the trail that we found be- 

 fore us. 



During the first two or three 

 hours the trail passed through 

 a dense tropical jungle. We 



534 



