The plain of Surite is a few leagues west of Cuzco, on the road to Lima, at a sufficient elevation to be within the region of occasional frosts, and is surrounded by mountains, up which the ancient andeneria or terraced fields, now left to ruin, may be seen rising tier above tier. The plain is swampy and covered with rank grass, and would be difficult to cross, if it were not for the causeway, built by order of the Yncas, and accurately described by Cieza de Leon, which is still in good preservation. This causeway is of stone, raised about six feet above the plain, and perfectly straight for a distance of two leagues. At the end of the causeway is the little village of Yscu-chaca.
[448] The ancient city of Cuzco is in lat. 13° 31´ S., and long. 73° 3´ W., at the head of a valley 11,380 feet above the level of the sea. The valley is nine miles long, and from two to three broad, bounded on either side by ranges of bare mountains of considerable elevation. It is covered with fields of barley and lucerne, and, besides many farms and country houses, contains the two small towns of San Sebastian and San Geronimo. On the north side the famous hill of Sacsahuaman rises abruptly over the city, and is divided from the mountains on either side by two deep ravines, through which flow the little rivers of Huatanay and Rodadero. The former stream rushes noisily past the moss-grown walls of the old convent of Santa Teresa, under the houses forming the west side of the great square of Cuzco, down the centre of a broad street, where it is crossed by numerous stone bridges, and eventually unites with the Rodadero. The Huatanay is now but a noisy little mountain torrent confined between banks faced with masonry; but in former times it must have been in the habit of frequently breaking its bounds, as the name implies, which is composed of two words, Huata (a year), and Ananay, an ejaculation of weariness, indicating fatigue from the yearly necessity of renewing its banks. The principal part of the ancient city was built between the two rivers.
[449] “The grandeur of the fortress of Cuzco,” says Garcilasso de la Vega, “is incredible to those who have not seen it, and those who have examined it carefully might well imagine, and even believe, that it was made by some enchantment, and by demons rather than men. The multitude and bigness of the stones in the three lines of fortification (which are more like rocks than stones) cause admiration, and it is wonderful how the Indians could have cut them out of the quarries whence they were brought, for they have neither iron nor steel. How they conveyed them to the building is a still greater difficulty, for they had no bullocks, nor did they know how to make carts which could bear the weight of the stones; so they dragged them with stout ropes by the force of their arms. The roads by which they had to come were not level, but led over very rugged mountains, up and down which the stones were dragged by sheer force. Many of the stones were brought from distances of ten, twelve, and fifteen leagues, particularly the stone, or, to speak more correctly, the rock which the Indians call saycusca (as much as to say ‘tired’), for it never reached the building. It was brought from a distance of fifteen leagues, across the river of Yucay, which is little smaller than the Guadalquivir at Cordova. The nearest quarry was at Muyna, five leagues from Cuzco. But it is still more wonderful to think how they fitted such great stones so closely that the point of a knife will scarcely go between them. Many are so well adjusted that the joining can scarcely be seen, and to attain such nicety it must have been necessary to raise them to their places and lower them very many times; for the Indians had no square, nor had they any rule by which they could know that one stone fitted justly on another. They had no knowledge of cranes nor of pulleys, nor of any machine which would assist them in raising and lowering the stones.” ... Acosta (lib. vi, cap. 14, p. 421, ed. 1608) makes similar remarks on the size of the stones and on the difficulty of raising them. Garcilasso continues: “They built the fortress on a high hill to the north of the city, called Sacsahuaman. This hill rises above the city almost perpendicularly, so that on that side the fortress is safe from an enemy, whether formed in squadron or in any other way. Owing to its natural advantages this side was only fortified with a stout wall, more than two hundred fathoms long. But on the other side there is a wide plain approaching the hill by a gentle incline, so that an enemy might march up in squadrons. Here they made three walls, one in front of the other, each wall being more than two hundred fathoms long. They are in the form of a half moon, and unite with the wall facing the city. The first wall contains the largest stones. I hold that they were not taken from any quarry, because they bear no marks of having been worked, but that they were huge boulders (tormos) or loose rocks which were found on the hills, adapted for building. Nearly in the centre of each line of wall there was a doorway, each with a stone of the same height and breadth, which closed it. The first of these doorways was called Ttiu-puncu (Sand gate); the second, Acahuana-puncu, so called after the chief architect; and the third, Huira-ccocha-puncu. There is a space of twenty-five or thirty feet between the walls, which is made level, so that the summit of one wall is on a line with the foot of the next. Each wall had its parapet or breastwork, behind which the defenders could fight with more security. Above these lines of defence there is a long narrow platform, on which were three strong towers. The principal one was in the centre, and was called Moyoc-marca or ‘the round tower.’ In it there was a fountain of excellent water, brought from a distance underground, the Indians know not whence. The kings lodged in this tower when they went up to the fortress for amusement, and all the walls were adorned with gold and silver, and animals, birds, and plants imitated from nature, which served as tapestry. The second tower was called Paucar-marca, and the third, Sacllac-marca. They were both square, and they contained lodgings for many soldiers. The foundations were as deep as the towers were high, and the vaults passed from one to the other. These vaults were cunningly made, with so many lanes and streets that they crossed each other with their turns and doublings.” Garcilasso complains that the Spaniards, instead of preserving this wonderful monument, have taken away many stones, from the vaults and towers, with which to build their new houses in Cuzco; but they left the three great walls, because the stones were so enormous that they could not move them. He adds that the fortress took fifty years in building.
The ruins of the fortress of Cuzco are the most interesting in Peru, and I made a very minute examination of them in 1853. On the side of the hill immediately above the city there are three stone terraces. The first wall, 14 feet high, extends in a semicircular form round this end of the hill, for 180 paces. Between the first and second walls there is a level space 8 paces broad. Above the third wall there are many carefully hewn stones lying about, some of them supporting three lofty wooden crosses. Here, probably, were the three towers mentioned by Garcilasso, now totally destroyed. The view from this point is extensive and beautiful. The city of Cuzco is spread out like a map below, with its handsome church towers and domes rising above the other buildings. The great square is seen, crowded with Indian girls sitting under shades before their merchandise, or passing to and fro like a busy hive of bees. Beyond is the long plain, and far in the distance, rising above the lower ranges of mountains, towers Asungato, with its snowy peak standing out in strong relief against the cloudless sky.
The length of the platform or table land on the summit of the Sacsahuaman hill is 525 paces, and its breadth, in the broadest part, 130 paces. Many deep excavations have been made in all parts of it, in search of hidden treasure. On the south side the position was so strong that it needed no artificial defence, being bounded by the almost inaccessible ravine of the Huatanay. On the north, from the terraces already described for 174 paces in a westerly direction, the position is naturally defended by the steep ravine through which flows the river Rodadero, and only required a single stone breastwork, which still exists. But from this point to the western extremity of the table land, a distance of 400 paces, it is entirely undefended by nature. Here the Yncas constructed that gigantic treble line of Cyclopean fortification, which must fill the mind of every traveller with astonishment and admiration. The first wall averages a height of 18 feet, the second of 16, and the third of 14: the terrace between the first and second being 10 paces across, and that between the second and third 8 paces. The walls are built with salient and retiring angles. The position is entered by three doorways, so narrow that they only admit of the passage of one man at a time. The outer angles are generally composed of one enormous block of stone. I measured some of these. One was 17 feet high, 12 broad, and 7½ long; another, 16 feet high by 6 broad. They are made to fit so exactly one into the other as to form a piece of masonry unparalleled in solidity and the peculiarity of its construction, in any other part of the world. These walls are composed of a limestone of a dark slate colour, and are now overgrown with cacti and wild flowers.
[451] Known, in the days of the Yncas, as Huaca-puncu (“the holy gate”).
[452] The Yncas ascertained the time of the solstices by means of eight towers on the east, and eight towers on the west of the city, put four and four, two small between two large ones. The smaller towers were eighteen or twenty feet apart, and the larger ones were the same distance, one on each side. The solstice was ascertained by watching when the sun set or rose between the smaller towers. G. de la Vega, i, lib. ii, cap. 22.
[453] The four grand divisions of the empire of the Yncas gave their names to these four royal roads. The whole empire was called Ttahua-ntin-Suyu, literally “The four regions.”
[454] The most detailed account of ancient Cuzco is to be found in the pages of the Ynca historian. He says that the first houses were built on the steep slopes of the Sacsahuaman hill. The city was divided into two parts, Hanan-Cuzco (upper or north) and Hurin-Cuzco (lower or south). The chief ward or division was on the slopes of Sacsahuaman, and was called Collcam-pata. Here Manco Ccapac built his palace, the ruins of which are still in good preservation; and the great hall, where festivals were celebrated on rainy days, was entire in the days of Garcilasso. The next ward, to the east, was called Cantut-pata (“the terrace of flowers”); then came Puma-curcu (“lion’s beam”), so called from a beam to which wild animals were secured; then Toco-cachi (“window of salt”); then, further south, Munay-sencca (“loving nose”); then Rimac-pampa (“speaking place”), where ordinances were promulgated, close to the temple of the sun, at the south end of the city; then Pumap-chupan (“lion’s tail”), where the two streams of Huatanay and Rodadero unite, and form a long promontory, like a tail. To the westward there was a division called Chaquill-chaca; and next to it, on the north, were others called Pichu and Quillipata. Finally, the division known as Huaca-puncu (“holy gate”) adjoined the Collcampata on the west side.
The inner space, between the abovenamed divisions or suburbs, and extending from the Collcampata on the north to Rimac-pampa on the south, was occupied by the palaces and houses of the Ynca and his family, divided according to their Ayllus or lineages. This central part of the city was divided into four parts, called Hatun-cancha, containing the palace of Ynca Yupanqui; Puca-marca, where stood the palace of Tupac Ynca Yupanqui; Ynti-pampa, the open space in front of the temple of the sun; and Ccori-cancha, which was occupied by the temple of the sun itself. Immediately south of the Collcam-pata was the Sacha-huasi or college, founded by Ynca Rocca, where the Amautas or wise men resided. Near the college was the palace of Ynca Rocca, called Coracora, and another palace called Cassana,{[a]} the abode of the Ynca Pachacutec. The latter was so called because it would cause any one who saw it to freeze (cassa) with astonishment, at its grandeur and magnificence. These palaces looked upon the great square of the ancient city, called Huacay-pata (“the festive terrace”), which was two hundred paces long and one hundred and fifty broad from east to west. At the west end it was bounded by the Huatanay stream. At the south side there was another royal palace, called Amaru-cancha (“place of a serpent”), the residence of Huayna Ccapac, and south of the Anaru-cancha was the Aclla-huasi.