I fear that no amount of dynamite will ever disclose at Choqquequirau a “Cradle of Gold” or any articles of great value. It was not a temple or a treasure house, but a fortress where life was strenuous. The officers of its garrison were not likely to bring with them gold ornaments or utensils, and the poor Incas had few such baubles left at the end of their career.
Why then should it have been called the “Cradle of Gold?” One answer is that the ridge or spur on which Choqquequirau lies, when seen from a distance, looks not unlike a hammock. The setting sun often tinges it with gold and the romantic Incas might easily have named Choqquequirau from its resemblance to the only cradles with which they were familiar.
The other answer is that the name, which does not occur in any of the chronicles, so far as I have been able to discover, is a modern invention. In one of the buildings we found several slabs of slate on which visitors have been accustomed to register their names. According to these inscriptions Choqquequirau was visited in 1834 by a French explorer M. Eugène de Sartiges, and in July, 1834, by two Peruvians, José Maria de Tejada and Marcelino Leon, who may have come with de Sartiges.
Charles Wiener, in his very unreliable but highly interesting “Perou et Bolivie” (Paris, 1880), says (footnote, p. 294) that Choqquequirau has also been visited by another Frenchman, “M. Angrand whose MS. notes, with plans and drawings, were bequeathed to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.” I find they are merely hastily-drawn sketches. One, a route-map, is dated “30 7bre,” [1847]. Angrand’s name does not appear on any of the slates.
Besides de Sartiges, and the two Peruvians already mentioned, the slate records show that in 1861, on the 10th of November, José Benigno Samanez (“pro Presidente Castilla”) Juan Manuel Rivas Plata, and Mariano Cisneros reached the ruins. Also that on July 4, 1885, Luis E. Almanza, J. Antonio Almanza, Emiliano Almanza, Pio Mogrovejo and a party of workmen did what they could to find the buried treasure. So much for the existing evidence of former visitors.
M. de Sartiges, writing under the nom de plume E. de Lavandais, published an account of his visit in the Revue des Deux Mondes, in June, 1850. His route, the only one possible at the time, was exceedingly circuitous. From Mollepata, a village near the sugar plantation of La Estrella, he went north across the high pass between Mts. Sargantay and Soray to the river Urubamba, to a village called Yuatquinia (Huadquiña [?]). He engaged Indians to cut a trail to Choqquequirau. After three weeks he found that the difficulties of making a trail were so great that it would take at least two months to finish the undertaking, so he and his companions made their way through the jungle and along the precipices as best they could for four days. On the fifth day they arrived at the ruins. In his projects for exploration, he had failed to take into account the fact that tropical vegetation had been at work for centuries covering up the remains of the Inca civilization, and as he was only able to stay at Choqquequirau for two or three days, he failed to see some of the most interesting ruins. The giant stairway and the buildings on the upper plaza seem to have escaped his attention entirely. He was greatly impressed with the fortifications on the south side of the lower plaza and speaks of them as though they formed a triumphal wall (“mur triomphal”). He seems to have spent most of his time hunting for treasure behind this wall. He had expected to spend eight days here, but the difficulties of reaching the place were so great and the food-supply was so limited that he had to hurry back without seeing more than the buildings of the lower plaza, the lower terraces, and a grave or two. It was his opinion that fifteen thousand people lived here once. One wonders what they lived on.
M. de Sartiges’s description made us realize how much we were indebted to the labors of the treasure-seeking company for penetrating the jungle and uncovering buildings whose presence otherwise would never have been suspected.
Raimondi says that in 1862, Don Juan Gastelu, a Peruvian traveller, left Ayacucho in an effort to go up the valley of the Apurimac in a canoe, hoping in this way to reach the ancient fortress. After seven days of perilous navigation, he gave up the attempt long before reaching its vicinity.
The interesting question remains: Was this the ultimate refuge of the last Inca?
It is reasonably certain that Manco Ccapac, the last emperor, fleeing from the wrath of the conquerors, took refuge in a place called “Vilcabamba.” There is a village of that name, two or three days journey over the mountains north of Choqquequirau, on the Vilcabamba River, an affluent of the Urubamba. It has never been explored so far as I know.