252 



which are thought, with some probability, to 

 have been planted by kings of the Azteck dy- 

 nasty. In the gardens of the Inca, near Cannar, 

 we sought in vain for some tree, which might 

 seem to have outlived half a century ; nothing 

 indicates the abode of the Incas in these coun- 

 tries, except perhaps a small monument of stone, 

 placed on the brink of a precipice, and on the 

 purpose of which the inhabitants are not agreed. 

 This small monument, which is called the 

 Sport of the Inca, consists in a single mass of 

 stones. The Peruvians employed in its construc- 

 tion the same artifice as the Egyptians did in 

 the sculpture of the sphynx of Geeza, of which 

 Pliny expressly says, " e saxo natural! elaho- 

 rata." The rock of quartzose sandstone, which 

 serves as its basis, was diminished, so that, after 

 having taken away the strata which formed the 

 summit, there remained only a seat with an en- 

 closure around, which is represented on this 

 plate. We may be surprised, that a people who 

 heaped together so prodigious a number of free- 

 stones on the superb causeway of Assu ay, should 

 have recourse to such singular means to {raise a 

 wall three feet high. All the Peruvian works 

 bear the mark of a laborious people, who de- 

 lighted in hollowing rocks, and in seeking diffi- 

 culties to show their address in conquering them ; 

 and who imprinted on the most insignificant 

 edifices a character of solidity, from which we 



