i'iioto by Hiram Uingliaiu 



A SMALL CHAPEL ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF ADANCAV 



With characteristic hospitality when I left Abancay on my way to Cuzco, I was accom- 

 panied this far by the prefect and his aide, and was sent on my way rejoicing and riding one 

 of the prefect's best horses, while my own mule had a day off. It is this generous spirit of 

 friendly courtesy that makes the work of exploration pleasant in a region where nature has 

 done all she could to make it difficult. 



repeatedly had to make detours to avoid 

 deep sloughs, and occasionally had to 

 stop in order to have hranches cut away 

 so that the mules might get through. 



DIFFICULT GOING. 



The trail grew rapidly worse, the 

 pack-mule fell down four or five times, 

 and finally became so frightened that he 

 refused to attempt a place in the trail 

 Avhere it was necessary for him to jump 

 up about four feet on a slippery rock. 

 It was consequently necessary to unload 

 him and distribute the cargo among the 

 Indian carriers, and get all hands to help 

 pull and push the mules over the bad 

 spots in the mountain foot trail. This 

 went on at intervals during the remainder 

 of the day. 



.As a result we found ourselves at night- 

 fall on a grassy sloi)e on the side of the 

 mountain about 15,000 feet above sea- 

 level. A little shelter here and the pres- 

 ence of a small sj^ring made the Indians 

 prefer to pass the night at this point. 



The next morning we crossed a high 

 pass and descended rapidly into a steep- 



walled valley, containing one of the 

 upper tributaries of the Aobamba. The 

 lower slopes were covered with a dense 

 forest, which gradually gave way to 

 scrub and grass up to the snow-line. 

 About 2 o'clock in the afternoon we 

 reached the valley bottom at a point 

 where several smaller tributaries unite 

 to form the principal west branch of the 

 Aobamba. The place was called Palcay. 



Here we found trwo or three modern 

 Indian huts, one of them located in a 

 very interestin.g nuned stronghold called 

 Llacta. As the location of the strong- 

 hold in the bottom of a valley was not 

 easily defensible, a wall about 12 feet in 

 height surrounded the quadrangular ruin. 



The stronghold was about 145 feet 

 square anu divided by two narrow cross- 

 streets into four equal quarters. Two of 

 these quarters had been completed, and 

 consisted of five houses arranged around 

 a courtyard in a symmetrical fashion. 

 The third quarter was almost complete, 

 while the fourth, quarter had only the be- 

 ginnings of two or three houses. Each 

 one of the four quarters had a single en- 



535 



