REIGN OF THE INCAS. 



75 



fortification in North America would more safely defy the effects of 

 round shot and shell, though built by people ignorant of such war 

 agents. The angles and ground-plan are systematically laid down ; the 

 stairways, by which the fort was entered, are built so as to be easily 

 shut up by large stones from the inside, making the door quite as secure 

 from the outside as the wall itself. The walls encircle the top of the 

 hill, the peak of which stands considerably above the ruins. On the 

 north side of the ruins, from which this view was taken, there are many 

 seats and flat places carved in the rocks, -whence it is supposed people 

 witnessed plays on the flats, which have the appearance of parade- 

 grounds. Among these rocks there is a hole, raid to be the entrance to 

 a subterraneous passage under the hill to the Temple of the Sun, a 

 distance of half a mile. I entered it, but could not proceed far, and 

 came away with doubts. Subterraneous roads, made by the order of 

 the Incas, are believed by some to exist between Tarma and Cuzco. 



In the small stream flowing by this fortress, and through the city of 

 Cuzco, I washed some sand in a pan, and found grains of gold. The 

 Indians now seek the cultivation of the soil rather than gold-washing, 

 and find it more profitable. During the reign of the Incas, the precious 

 metals were solely used by them as ornaments and utensils, and not for 

 a currency, as now. 



From time to time, during the reign of the Incas, the neighboring 

 tribes of Indians were brought under their control, either by persuasive 

 means or by force of arms, until their territory extended from the Pacific 

 coast on the west to the eastern slope of the Andes, and from Quito, 

 near the equator on the north, into Chili, near latitude 40° south. Some 

 of these Incas were great warriors, who marched to the frontiers with a 

 determination to extend their laws and religion over other territory, 

 until their possessions became so great, that the twelfth Inca decided to 

 deviate from the constitution established by the first, and gave the 

 southern "portion of the kingdom to his eldest, and the northern portion 

 to another son. These brothers quarrelled. Francisco Pizarro took the 

 conqueror prisoner and had him hung, which completed the fall of the 

 Peruvian empire, the civilization of which yet astonishes the Spaniards. 



I met an old woman in Cuzco who claimed to be a descendant of the 

 Incas family. She was unable to trace the account of descent farther 

 back than her own mother. Old ladies tell their children wonderful 

 stories in this part of the world. Those who claim to be of the same 

 blood as the Incas, assume a haughty manner towards their neighbors, 

 which becomes the Indian as little as other people. In the ruins of 

 forts, roads, and canals, the art of spinning, weaving, and dyeing, 



