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The National Geographic Magazine 



crowing of roosters, and found that the 

 pet fighting cocks of the family were tied 

 to the table legs — the Peruvian alarm 

 clock ! In the early dawn we were on 

 our way up the valley, and, passing Uru- 

 bamba, rode on toward Pisac, the fortress 

 which guards another mountain pass. 



Before visiting Peru I had been im- 

 pressed, in reading, with the monumental 

 greatness of the Incas, but in the Upper 

 Yucay Valley saw evidences of their 

 agricultural and engineering skill as well. 

 There are many terraces, aqueducts, 

 well-planned fields, and the river has 

 been straightened for miles from its ser- 

 pentine course. 



A number of the bridges spanning the 

 river are of mimbres — woven branches 

 fastened to cables with thongs of hide 

 or vines. This makes a very picturesque 

 bridge, but I have crossed rivers on safer 

 ones. The mimbres, which we nick- 

 named "monkey bridges," are often lop- 

 sided and sway with the breeze. The 

 question with us was whether to risk our 

 lives in crossing the bridges or in fording 

 the river. 



Pisac is the most imposing of the 

 fortresses. It is built on a mountain top, 

 and looks down on the meeting of the 

 Yucay and a lesser canyon which leads 

 to the Paucartambo region, across the 

 Andes. It is the most complete of the 

 fortifications, has the most commanding 

 situation, and contains a fairly well pre- 

 served temple built to hold the famous 

 Inti-huatani, the astronomical stone. In 

 the Quichua language, "Inti-huatana" 

 means "where the sun's rays are gath- 

 ered." Within the fortress are many 

 agricultural terraces and aqueducts, an 

 evidence that the garrison was not de- 

 pendent on the valley below, but self- 

 supporting in days of siege. Looking 

 across the canyon we saw ancient tombs 

 built high in the rocks, seeming accessi- 



ble only to birds. In a quarry within 

 the fort I found an instrument, a wedge 

 of clnimpe, the Peruvian bronze, left 

 there by a Quichua workman many cen- 

 turies ago. Comparatively few students 

 or relic hunters visit Pisac, and we found 

 a number of fine old chica jars in the 

 village. From Pisac we crossed the 

 Andes to the Paucartambo country, but 

 "that's quite another story." Returning 

 to the Yucay Valley some weeks later 

 we reached Cuzco by a new trail. 



Those were long days in the saddle, 

 with little food and less water. We knew 

 the river water to be impure, as the 

 sewage of Cuzco flows into it, and the 

 brooks are also contaminated as they 

 pass through the villages. At night we 

 slept on the ground, wrapped in our blan- 

 kets, at times finding shelter in a. ruined 

 temple, as there are many lesser ruins 

 throughout the Valley of Yucay. W T e 

 met no travelers save the highland In- 

 dians, and picked up a few words of their 

 tongue. I felt that we had left civiliza- 

 tion far behind. Even the Spanish 

 colonial days faded. We were in the old 

 Peru. 



To know a country and a people, one 

 must leave the highway and live near to 

 Nature. We traveled much in the sad- 

 dle on this great elevated plateau — ever 

 a thousand miles on a single journey — 

 and gradually my standpoint changed. I 

 started as an outsider, having little real 

 sympathy for the Quichuas and Ay- 

 maras, little understanding of the history 

 and environment which has made them 

 the sullen, lifeless folk they are. In time 

 I grew, through study and observation,, 

 but more through sharing the life, half- 

 Andean myself, and find, in looking back 

 over years of travel in South America — 

 years in which we visited every coun- 

 try — that my greatest heart interest lies 

 in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia. 



