259 



or great nobles might pass, though carried in a 

 palanquin on the shoulders of their subjects. 

 The door-posts were not parallel, but inclined, 

 probably in order to use stone lintels of less dir 

 mensions. The niches (hoco) hollowed in the 

 walls, and serving for cupboards, imitate the 

 form of these porte rastremate : the inclined 

 position of these parts in the Peruvian edifices 

 gives them some resemblance to those of Egypt, 

 in which the lintels are always shorter than the 

 thresholds. Between the hocoes are cylindric 

 stones, with polished surfaces, which project out 

 of the wall to the length of five decimetres ; the 

 natives assured us, that they were used to hang- 

 weapons or ornaments on. We observed also 

 in the corners of the walls cross pieces of por- 

 phyry of a singular shape. M. de la Conda- 

 rnine thinks, that they were intended to join the 

 two walls. I am rather inclined to believe, that 

 the oords of their hammocks were fastened round 

 these cross pieces ; at least we find similar pieces 

 of wood, serving for this purpose, in all the huts 

 of the Indians of the Orinoco. 



The Peruvians showed surprising dexterity in 

 cutting the hardest stones. At Cannar we find 

 curved grooves hollowed in the porphyry, to 

 supply the want of hinges to the doors. La 

 Condamine and Bouguer saw in old edifices, 

 built in the time of the Incas, ornaments of por- 

 phyry, representing the muzzles of animals, in 



s 2 



