Wonderful Ruins of the Incas.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 12, 20 March 1912, Page 61

Wonderful Ruins of the Incas.

On the left *us a huge wall, part of the line of outer fortifications. On the right a steep bank led down to the rush ing stream, which here and there was crossed by an aqueduct and bridges of masonry, solid but very graceful. An hour's climb brought us to a fairly level plain at the top of the hill. Be tween us and the valley lay the fortress, its first line of defence rising on our left. Very large and strong walls we had already seen, but they were pygmies compared to the one which now confronted us. To form it boulders of granite and of limestone, some of them as large as a house, had been brought together. No matter how large they’ were, however, their edges were as carefully trim med and fitted as bricks in a house. How these masses of rock were ever brought to where they are, raised in position, no one can say. All round the mount the great wall runs, forming a half ircle. ending toward the town. There are but few entrances through it. and those are most carefully guarded bv flanking ma sonry. I have seen the Great Wall of China, the pyramids snd temples of Egypt, the fortresses of Japan, and the ruins of Ba al beck. but none of them are more wonderful than this cyclopean structure. Within this first line of fortification were two others which, if not quite as imposing, still were of a height and strength amply sufficient to keep at bay an army not provided with gunpowder. Between them the ground was levelled, supposedly for a moat. If this supposi tion is correct, the course of the little stream alonsr which we had ridden must have been diverted far back in the hills, for certainly there was no other water obtainable in volume large enough. Inside the lines was a large plain form ed by grading the top of the hill. On the edge of this anj overlooking the valley rose the gigantic crucifix that is so plainly visible from Cuzco and beyond The view is simply magnificent. The city, with its narrow streets and numer ous churches, lay mapped before ns. Beyond it the rich valley, and in the distance the snows of BlancnpaJa.—From *’Cuzco. the Raered City of the Incas.’* bv S. H. Howland, in the February “Scribner.**