C.uzco : America's Ancient Mfcc\ 



677 



THE PLAZA, CUZCO, SHOWING A PROCESSION FROM THE CATHEDRAL 



Each church sends its saint to the Cathedral for Corpus Christi. Here the saints remain one 

 week, being then returned to their home church, after visiting other friendly saints 



of sun-worshiping are past. Formerly 

 three gigantic rows of masonry encircled 

 the hill at its summit ; now these walls are 

 broken in many places. The greater por- 

 tion of the stones facing the city were 

 rolled down the hill and used in building 

 the Spanish churches. The strongest en- 

 forcement was on that side of the hill 

 farthest from the city. Here there is an 

 open plain covered with a field of wheat. 

 The citadel facing this tableland is com- 

 posed of walls averaging 18 feet in 

 height, built in over twenty salient and 

 retiring angles. One of the rocks in the 

 lowest wall is fully 16 feet in height and 

 weighs many tons. In no part of the 

 world is there an ancient building or 

 fortification lo equal Sacsahuaman in 

 solidity and beauty of execution. Yet 



with the coming of the Spaniards it did 

 not fulfill the glory of its name. 



The story of that great contest has 

 been immortalized by Prescott. As I 

 stood in the door-way where Juan 

 Pizarro, a brother of the conqueror, fell, 

 and looked toward the precipice over 

 which the defeated Inca noble hurled 

 himself when he saw that his enemies 

 wer8 victorious, I realized how accurate 

 is the great historian's description of a 

 place which he had never seen. 



On- the plain facing the fortress is a 

 masV-Of j-qck called the Rodadero and 

 on the summit a series of seats rise one 

 above the other. These are cut out of the 

 hard rock and the place is called "The 

 Seat of the Inca." According to tradi- 

 tion, the Inca and his nobles came here 



