1879.] 
Peruvian Antiquities . 
91 
have, in good state of preservation, many thousand feet of 
an old water-course, while their sides to the perpendicular 
parts are lined with terraces. This water-course took its 
head from a ravine now dry, and, even beyond the memory 
of the oldest inhabitants, except in one or two cases, never 
carried water. It can be traced as far as Ascope, 45 miles 
south. Five miles from Tolon, up the river, there is an 
isolated boulder of granite, 4 and 6 feet in its diameters, 
covered with hieroglyphics. Fourteen miles further, a point 
of mountain at the junction of two ravines is covered to a 
height of more than 50 feet with the same class of hiero- 
glyphics — birds, fishes, snakes, cats, monkeys, men, sun, 
moon, and many odd and now unintelligible forms. The 
rock on which these are cut is a silicated sandstone, and 
many of the lines are an eighth of an inch deep. In one 
large stone there are three holes, 20 to 30 inches deep, 
6 inches in diameter at the orifice and 2 at the apex, and, 
although polished as porcelain, these markings extend even 
to the bottom. The locality is of no importance ; the 
stones as Nature placed them ; why, then, was so much 
labour and time expended upon them ? 
At Anchi, on the Rimac river, upon the face of a perpen- 
dicular wall 200 feet above the river-bed, there are two 
hieroglyphics, representing an imperfect B and a perfedf D. 
In a crevice below them, near the river, were found buried 
25,000 dollars worth of gold and silver. When the Incas 
learned of the murder of their chief, what did they do with 
the gold they were bringing for his ransom ? Rumour says 
they buried it, and many places are pointed out and thou- 
sands of dollars spent in useless search for the lost treasure. 
May not these markings at Yonan tell something, since 
they are on the road and near to the Incal city ? Eleven 
miles beyond Yonan, on a ridge of mountain 700 feet above 
the river, are the walls of a city of 2000 inhabitants. A 
perilous ascent on hands and knees is now the only way to 
reach it ; however, on the opposite side of the river are 
similar ruins, but easy of access. A remnant of a stone 
wall, 10 and 12 feet high, built of small flat stones and 
without mortar, probably at one time served as river pro- 
tection and against the tribe on the other side, there being a 
tradition that two powerful chiefs occupied these cities and 
were ever at war. The dead were buried in sepulchres, 
using large boulders as the top, while stone walls divided 
the space beneath into compartments. Six and twelve miles 
further are extensive walls and terraces. Three miles north 
of the latter place are the rich silver mines of Chilete, for- 
