*4 
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 naturali elaho- 
Tatar 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 Assuay, should 
have recourse to such singular means to praise 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 difii- 
culties to show their address in conquering them ; 
and who imprinted on the most insignificant 
edifices a character of solidity, from which we 
