FURTHER EXPLORATIONS IN THE LAND OF THE INCAS 441 



As an additional precaution, all mem- 

 bers of the party were vaccinated against 

 both smallpox and typhoid, two diseases 

 that are likely to be prevalent in every 

 town in the Andes. The men were par- 

 ticularly cautioned against drinking water 

 taken from irrigating ditches and canals, 

 and against drinking native beverages 

 where the source of the water might be 

 questionable, and against eating too freely 

 of uncooked native fruits and such prod- 

 ucts as crude native sugar or chocolate. 

 The general supplies included tents 

 provided with heavy canvas floors sewed 

 to the walls, and mosquito nets, making 

 the tents practically insect- and snake- 

 proof ; saddles, made especially for the 

 narrow-backed Andean mules and fitted 

 with cruppers and two heavy girths to 

 prevent slipping on the steep trails ; halter 

 bridles (Peruvian saddle animals will 

 rarely, if ever, drink without having the 

 bit taken out of their mouths ; so that the 

 halter bridle, with its bit connected by 

 snap-hooks, is a great convenience) ; pack 

 covers to keep the loads dry during the 

 frequent rainstorms ; duffle bags of the 

 beaviest possible material ; fiber cases, 

 and air-tight steel boxes. 



Besides these things, we were prepared 

 to furnish each member of the party with 

 blankets, snow-glasses, folding bucket, 

 folding wash-basin, cot, aluminum cook- 

 ing outfit, small kerosene stove with 

 Primus burner, folding brass lantern, 

 sewing kit, canteen, pocket tool-kit, rub- 

 ber poncho, Winchester rifle, Colt revol- 

 ver, camera, tripod, and photographic 

 record and calculator. 



ESTABLISHING NEW HEADQUARTERS 



On former expeditions we established 

 our headquarters at Cuzco, the capital of 

 the Incas at the time of the Spanish con- 

 quest, and one of the most interesting 

 cities in the Western Hemisphere.* Since 

 Cuzco is the capital of one of the largest 

 departments in Peru, the site of most of 

 our work, there we had the advantage of 

 being able to keep in touch with the chief 



*Peru is divided not into States and counties, 

 "but into departments and provinces. The pre- 

 fects of departments are answerable only to 

 the President and have great power. 



political and military authorities when- 

 ever trouble has arisen (see page 432 ). 



In 191 5, however, we decided to estab- 

 lish our headquarters at Ollantaytambo 

 rather than at Cuzco, because it has a 

 better climate (being at an elevation of 

 only 9,000 feet above the sea instead of 

 11,000 feet), has plenty of good water — 

 an important factor, considering the 

 amount of pure water needed for photo- 

 graphic purposes, as well as for ordinary 

 household use — and was a long day's 

 journey, or 33 miles, nearer to Machu 

 Picchu and the valleys where most of 

 our work was to be done. 



THE HOUSE OE THE YANKEES 



Chief Assistant Hardy, who had left 

 New Haven with the Expedition of 19 14 

 and had been spending much of the inter- 

 vening time studying Quichua, the lan- 

 guage of the Incas (at present spoken by 

 a majority of the inhabitants of the high- 

 lands), finally succeeded in renting a 

 small place for our headquarters. It was 

 located between the attractive stream 

 which comes roaring down the Ollantav- 

 tambo Valley and an irrigation ditch 

 which furnished an abundance of good 

 water. Although not actually in the 

 heart of the town, it was only a few min- 

 utes' walk from the telegraph station and 

 was next door to the church and the 

 priest's house (see page 438). Reverting 

 to the language of the Incas, we called it 

 Yankihausi, or the House of the Yan- 

 kees. 



When Mr. Hardy leased the place, 

 there was, besides a garden and a small 

 paddock, only a single building that was 

 considered habitable even by the Indians. 

 There had been other buildings, but they 

 were in ruins and unspeakably filthy. 

 The available building was a two-story 

 structure. It had two rooms on the 

 ground floor, occupied by Indian families 

 and coated with the smoke of decades of 

 cooking fires. One room was pointed out 

 as the place where an Indian woman had 

 once been beaten to death. The doors 

 were low and narrow, so small in fact as 

 to be well-nigh useless for light or venti- 

 lation. There were only two windows in 

 the entire structure. Pigs and chickens, 



