{a} The site is now occupied by the convent of San Francisco. or convent of virgins. West of the Huacay-pata was the Cusi-pata (“joyful terrace”), which was united with it, the Huatanay being paved over with large flagstones.
All the streets of modern Cuzco contain specimens of ancient masonry. Many of the stones have serpents sculptured in relief, and four slabs are to be seen, with figures—half bird, half man—carved upon them, with some pretence to artistic skill. The wall of the palace of Ynca Rocca is still very perfect. It is formed of huge masses of rock of various shapes, one of them actually having twelve sides, yet fitting into each other with marvellous accuracy. They are of a sombre hue, and have an imposing effect. With the exception, however, of this building, of the palace on the Collcampata, and of the fortress, which are in the Cyclopean style, all the ancient masonry of Cuzco is in regular parallel courses. The roofs were of thatch, but very neatly and carefully laid on, as may be seen in the specimen still existing at the Sondor-huasi of Azangaro (See note to p. 166), and the city must altogether have presented a scene of architectural grandeur and magnificence which was well calculated to astonish the greedy and illiterate conquerors.
[455] Ccuri-cancha means literally “the place of gold.” Its site is now occupied by the convent of San Domingo, but several portions of the ancient temple of the sun are still standing, especially at the west end, where a mass of the dark, beautifully-formed masonry, about eighteen feet high, overhangs the Huatanay river. At the east end of the convent the ancient wall of the temple is almost entire, being seventy paces long and about thirty feet high. The stones are of irregular length, generally about two feet by one and a-half, and very accurately cut. They are in regular parallel courses, with their exterior surfaces projecting slightly and sloping off at the sides to form a junction with their neighbours. The roof was formed of beams pitched very high, and thatched with straw. In the interior the four walls were lined with plates of gold, and at one end there was a huge golden sun, with features represented, and rays of flame darting from its circumference, all of one piece. It extended from one wall to the other, occupying the whole side. This magnificent prize fell to the share of a Spanish knight named Marcio Serra de Lejesama, who gambled it away in one night; but he never took a card into his hand again. The reformed knight married an Ynca princess, and left the memorable will which I have quoted in a note at page [124].
On each side of the golden sun were the mummies of the deceased Yncas, seated in chairs of gold. The principal door faced towards the north, and opened on the open space known as the Ynti-pampa; and a cornice of gold, a yard broad, ran round the exterior walls of the temple. On the south side were the cloisters, also ornamented with a broad cornice of gold, and within the enclosure were buildings dedicated to the moon, and adorned with silver, to the stars, to lightning, and to the rainbow; as well as the dwellings of the Huillac Umu, or high priest, and of his attendants. Within the courts of these cloisters there were five fountains, with pipes of silver or gold. In the rear of the cloisters was the garden of the sun, where all the flowers, fruits, and leaves, were of pure beaten gold. I have myself seen some of these golden fruits and flowers.
[456] Namely Sinchi Rocca (1062), Lloque Yupanqui (1091), Mayta Ccapac (1126), Ccapac Yupanqui (1156), Ynca Rocca (1197), Yahuar-huaccac (1249), Huira-ccocha (1289), Pachacutec (1340), Ynca Yupanqui (1400), and Tupac Ynca Yupanqui (1439). The last named was succeeded by Huayna Ccapac (1475), in whose reign the Spaniards first appeared on the coast of Peru.
[457] G. de la Vega quotes this passage (i, lib. vii, cap. 19).
[458] In Quichua, Muchani is to adore or to kiss; and Muchay would be “adoration.”
[459] The valley of Yucay or Vilca-mayu is the paradise of Peru. It was the favourite residence of the Yncas, and is one of the most delightful spots in this favoured land. The rapid river which flows through it rises in the mountains of Vilcañota, and, leaving the city of Cuzco at a distance of about ten miles to the west, eventually joins the Apurimac after a course of about four hundred miles, and becomes one of the main affluents of the Ucayali.
The valley is seldom more than three miles in breadth, and is bounded on its eastern side by the snow-capped range of the Andes. To the westward there is a lower range of steep and rocky mountains. Within these narrow limits the vale of Yucay enjoys a delicious climate, and the picturesque farms, with their maize towers surrounded by little thickets of fruit trees, the villages scattered here and there along the banks of the rapid river, the groves of trees, and the lofty mountains rising abruptly from the valley, combine to form a landscape of exceeding beauty. The little village of Yucay is on the site of the delicious country retreat of the Yncas, a palace on which all the arts of Peruvian civilisation were lavished to render it a fitting abode for the sovereign and his court. The only remaining vestiges of the palace are two walls of Ynca masonry, forming sides of a modern house in the plaza of the village.
[460] Next to the fortress of Cuzco, the ruins at Tambo or Ollantay-tambo, in the valley of Yucay, are the most astonishing in Peru. They are built at a point where the valley is only about a league in width, covered with maize fields, with the broad and rapid river flowing through the centre. The dark mountains rise up almost perpendicularly on either side to such a stupendous height that but a narrow portion of blue sky smiles down upon the peaceful scene between them. A ravine, called Marca-ccocha, descends from the bleak punas of the Andes to the valley of Yucay at this point, and at the junction two lofty masses of rock rise up abruptly in dark and frowning majesty. The fortress of Tambo is built on the rock which forms the western portal to the ravine. The rock is a dark limestone, the lower part of which, to the south and east, is faced with masonry composed of small stones. At a height of about 300 feet there is a platform covered with a ruin apparently left in an unfinished state. Here there are six enormous slabs of granite, standing upright, and united by smaller pieces fitted between them. Each slab is 12 feet high, and at their bases there are other blocks of the same material, in one place formed into a commencement of a wall. This spot appears to have been intended as the principal part of the citadel. In the rear, and built up the steep sides of the mountains, there are several edifices of small stones plastered over with a yellow mud. They have gables at either end, and apertures for doors and windows. Still further to the east, a flank wall of the same material rises up from the valley to near the summit of the mountain, which is very steep and rocky, and indeed difficult of ascent. Immediately below the principal platform there are a succession of stone terraces. The upper one is entered at the side by a handsome doorway with an enormous granite lintel. The wall is built of polygonal-shaped blocks, fitting exactly into each other, and contains eight recesses, two feet two inches high by one broad and one deep. When the inner sides of these recesses are tapped with the fingers, a peculiar metallic ringing sound is produced. In front of the terraces there a series of well-constructed andeneria, or hanging gardens, sixteen deep, all faced with masonry, which descend into the ravine. On the opposite side of these andeneria the mountain rises perpendicularly, and terminates in a dizzy peak, where there is a huge block of stone called the Ynti-huatana, or place for observing the sun.