INCA SCULPTURE 
The Incas made serviceable mortars for grinding 
grain, of polished hard rock, mostly of a circular shape, 
seldom more than two feet in diameter. 
The matrimonial stone was interesting enough. It 
was a double vessel carved out of a solid stone, a per¬ 
foration being made in the partition between the two 
vessels. It seems, when marriages were performed, that 
the Incas placed a red liquid in one vessel and some water 
in the other, the perforation in the central partition being 
stopped up until the ceremony took place, when the 
liquids were allowed to mingle in emblem of the union 
of the two lives. Curious, too, was the pipe-like arrange¬ 
ment, called the kenko , ornamented with a carved jaguar 
head, also used at their marriage ceremonies. 
Their stone axes and other implements were of ex¬ 
traordinary interest — their rectangularly shaped stone 
knives, the star and cross-shaped heads for their war 
clubs, as well as the star-shaped weights which they used 
for offensive purposes, attached, perhaps, to a sling. 
Many were the weapons of offence made of stone which 
have been found near Cuzco, some of which were held 
in the hand, others attached to sticks. 
The Incas were fairly good sculptors, not only in 
stone, but also in moulding human figures and animals 
in silver and gold. Llamas, deer, long-nosed human¬ 
faced idols were represented by them with fidelity of 
detail, although perhaps not so much accuracy in the 
general proportions. At a later date the Incas used 
metal implements, such as small rakes and chisels for 
smoothing rock. They made hair-pins and ear-rings, 
chiefly of a mixture of gold, silver, lead, and copper. 
I saw at Cuzco a stone arrangement which was used 
by the Incas for washing and milling gold. Many orna¬ 
ments of silex, agate, and emerald, and also of coral, 
which had evidently been brought there from the coast, 
have also been found near Cuzco. 
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