244 



says *, that the edifices of Thomebamba have a 

 covering of rushes, so well made, that, if it be 

 not consumed by fire, it will last without alter- 

 ation for several ages. From this observation 

 we may be led to believe, that the gable of the 

 house of Cannar was added after the conquest ; 

 and what seems especially to favor this hypothe- 

 sis is the existence of open windows in this part 

 of the building ; for it is certain, that in the edi- 

 fices of ancient Peruvian construction, as in the 

 remains of the houses of Pompeia and Hercula- 

 neum, no windows are to be found. 



M. de la Condamine, in a very interesting 

 Memoir on some ancient Monuments of Peru -j- 

 is inclined also to think, that the gable which we 

 observe in the small edifice at Cannar is not of 

 the time of the Incas. He says, " that it is per- 

 haps of modern fabrication ; and that it is not of 

 free-stone like the rest of the walls, but of a kind 

 of brick dried in the air, and kneaded with 

 straw." He adds in another place, that the use 

 of those bricks, to which the Indians gave the 

 name of tica, was known to the Peruvians long- 

 before the arrival of the Spaniards ; and that, for 

 this reason, the gable may be of ancient construc- 

 tion, though formed of bricks. 



* Pedro de Cieca de Leon, Chronica del Peru (Anvers, 

 1554), torn. 1, c. 44, p. 120. 



t JVlemoires de TAcadcmie de Berlin, 1746, p. 444. 



