TOPOGEAPHY OF PEEU. 



821 



wretched hovels. Yet the country was formerly rich, and covered with 

 sumptuous cities, such as Iluandoval and Cabana, whose ruins still present an 

 imposing aspect. The still standing walls are decorated with granite friezes, 

 and were originally covered on the inner side with sculptures in porphyry and 

 other hard stones, most of which have been removed to churches and other 

 modern buildings. Nowhere else have the Quichua artists carved more lifelike 

 figures ; they are, in fact, real portraits, stamped with a highly original 

 expression. 



Fine earthenware has also been brought to light, attesting a lamentable 



Fig. 122. — Caeaz and Ancachs Mountains. 

 Scale 1 : 700,000. 



T^ 



W^^PTTi — V j^' \i — jrnpsTT 



^., ^v. ^^ ;^-Kv-^-| Lf,^ V'*:;. wv'-MS^ 



\ 



^:m^,jmM' ..mgf' 



7 /"so 



West oF ureenwich 



77''20 



12 Miles. 



debasement of art since the old times. The same decay is seen in the now arid 

 terraces, over 10,000 feet high, which were cultivated by the ancestors of the 

 present Peruvians. Farther east the black ramparts of a ruined fortress rise 

 above the snowj^ wastes on the Huaullang plateau, leading to the upper Maranon 

 valley.* In this now desolate region the largest place is Santiago de Chiico, on a 

 headstream of the Chuquicara, 



South of Chimbote the coast streams, such as the Rio de Casma, the Rio de 

 îluarmey, and the Barranca, continue to flow through alternating sandy wastes 

 and green oases, watered by irrigating rills derived from the rivers. Cajatambo, 



* Ch. Wiener. 



22 



