PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA. 289 



carried had been sunk and has ever since been sought in vain, 

 appeared to me, from the regularity of its circular shape, to 

 have been artificially excavated in the sandstone rock above 

 one of the fissures through which the springs issue. 



Of the fort and palace of Atahuallpa there are also only 

 very slight remains in the town, which is now adorned 

 with some fine churches. The destruction of the ancient 

 buildings has been accelerated by the devouring thirst of 

 gold which led men, before the close of the sixteenth century, 

 in digging for supposed hidden treasures, to overturn walls 

 and carelessly to undermine or weaken the foundations of 

 all the houses. The palace of the Inca was situated on a 

 hill of porphyry which had originally been hollowed at the 

 surface, so that it surrounds the principal dwelling almost 

 like a wall or rampart. A state prison and a municipal 

 building (la Casa del Cabildo) have been erected on a part 

 of the ruins. The most considerable ruins still visible, but 

 which are only from 13 to 16 feet high, are opposite the 

 convent of San Francisco ; they consist, as may be observed 

 in the house of the Cacique, of fine cut blocks of stone two 

 or three feet long, and placed upon each other without 

 cement, as in the Inca-Pilca or strong fortress of Canar in 

 the high land of Quito. 



There is a shaft sunk in the porphyritic rock which once 

 led into subterranean chambers, and a gallery said to extend 

 to the other porphyritic dome before spoken of, that of Santa 

 Polonia. Such arrangements shew an apprehension of the 

 uncertainties of war, and the desire to secure the means of 

 escape. The burying of treasures was an old and very gene- 



VOL. II. U 



