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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ing the devotion of the ancient people to 

 their agricultural pursuits. From the na- 

 ture of their undertakings it is plain that 

 in those days agriculture had the highest 

 consideration. Nothing that human labor 

 could accomplish was too much of an 

 honor to be paid to the art that enabled 

 these ancient people to create for them- 

 selves the essentials of a civilized exist- 

 ence, even under very unfavorable nat- 

 ural conditions. Notwithstanding the 

 enormous labor expended upon the build- 

 ing of ordinary terraces, such work was 

 carried far beyond the practical necessi- 

 ties and brought to a stage of perfection 

 that compels us to wonder as well as to 

 admire. 



In some respects even the finest of the 

 walls appear very rude, but for that very 

 reason they bear the more overwhelming 

 testimony to the remarkable perseverance 

 of the builders. In what other way could 

 a primitive people have left so convincing 

 a testimony of their attainment of the 

 condition of an ordered society? The 

 people who carried through these under- 

 takings had not only solved the problem 

 of existence and of food supply, but had 

 developed very high standards of artistic 

 perfection, along with the energy and pa- 

 tience to carry them into execution under 

 natural conditions of extreme difficulty 

 and with none but the simplest of tools. 



The development of terrace-building 

 into a fine art would follow naturally after 

 the terrace system of agriculture came to 

 be widely used. No people capable of 

 such perseverance in the building of ter- 

 races would fail to take pride in their 

 walls, as masons have done ever since. 

 From the very foundation of Rome we 

 have the tradition that Romulus killed 

 Remus in a quarrel over the construction 

 of a wall. 



In Peru the building of walls for ter- 

 races came in advance of walls for houses 

 or towns, and we may believe that the 

 builders of the finest terraces received 

 the highest appreciation. Building the 

 terraces in more difficult places and mak- 

 ing them of harder and larger stones, 

 joined with greater and greater skill, 

 would be natural steps in the develop- 

 ment of the art, like the larger and larger 

 pyramid- of the successive Egyptian 



pharaohs. Indeed, when all the condi- 

 tions are taken into account, it is difficult 

 to imagine any other kind of work in 

 which skill would be so likely to be de- 

 veloped and applied as in the building of 

 these terraces. 



THE STRUCTURE OE THE TERRACES 



That the terraces, including those of 

 the finest construction, were built for 

 agricultural purposes is obvious as soon 

 as their internal construction is taken into 

 account. Each terrace consists, roughly 

 speaking, of three parts — the wall and 

 the two distinct layers of earth that fill 

 the space behind the wall. All of the 

 ruined terraces show the same inside 

 structure, zvherever the zualls are re- 

 moved. The strata that are hidden be- 

 hind the walls are artificial no less than 

 the stone facing (see page 509). 



The underlying stratum, or artificial 

 subsoil, is composed of coarse stones and 

 clay, and is covered by a layer of fine 

 surface soil two or three feet thick. The 

 thickness of the subsoil layer depends, of 

 course, upon the height of the terrace. 

 AYhere clay or other light-colored ma- 

 terial is used for the subsoil, the differ- 

 ence between the two layers appears 

 most striking ; but the finer texture of the 

 upper layer also renders it very distinct 

 (see page 508). 



In height the terraces range usually 

 from 8 to 14 feet, the width depending 

 upon the slope. Terraces on very steep 

 slopes or narrow shelves of rock are 

 sometimes only 3 or 4 feet wide, though 

 the usual range is from 8 to 15 feet, or 

 still wider on the more gradual slopes. 

 Banks of 20 to 30 terraces are not uncom- 

 mon, while 50 or more are found in many 

 cases. 



That some of the stones and soil for 

 building the terraces was carried by 

 llamas is not impossible, but does not 

 seem very probable. Most of the terraces 

 are at elevations below 11,000 feet, while 

 llamas are used chiefly in the higher alti- 

 tudes. Probably most of the soil was 

 moved in baskets or mats carried on 

 men's backs. 



There is a tradition that earth for the 

 Inca garden at Cuzco was brought from 

 a special place near Quito, some 700 miles 



