CUZCO 
notes. A solid silver altar of great height was to be 
admired in the interior of the cathedral, while the chancel 
was of marvellously carved wood. So was a supplemen¬ 
tary altar, which had been stored away behind the silver 
one. 
The principal square of Cuzco had recently been 
paved with cement, on which none of the natives could 
be induced to walk, as they were afraid of slipping, ac¬ 
customed as they were to the roughest cobble-stone pav¬ 
ing of their streets. Only the gentry of the city could 
be seen treading with great care on the polished pave¬ 
ment, and were looked upon with much admiration by 
the lower natives, who stared aghast from the porticoes 
around the square. In the centre of the square was a 
cheap terra-cotta statue of the Indian hero Atahualpa 
surmounting a fountain painted a ghastly green. The 
gardens were nicely laid out with pretty lawns. Another 
beautiful church rose in the plaza, the doorway of which 
was also handsome, but not comparable in beauty with 
that of the cathedral. The stone carvings of its facade 
were nevertheless remarkable. There were arcades on 
three sides of the plaza , the houses being generally only 
one storey high above them. The buildings were painted 
light blue, pink, green, or bright yellow, the columns 
of beautifully cut stone being also covered with hideous 
paint to match. 
Thanks to the kindness of the President of the Re¬ 
public, Mr. B. B. Leguia, a telegram had been sent, 
asking the prefect of Cuzco to give me every possible 
assistance in visiting the Inca ruins in the neighbourhood. 
The prefect, Mr. J. J. V. Cuner, kindly placed at my 
disposal three excellent horses and an orderly. 
It is seldom one can visit a place where the people 
have more primitive habits than in the city of Cuzco. 
The streets, so wonderfully picturesque, were not fit to 
walk upon. The people threw into them all that can be 
399 
