Acosta says that he measured one of the great stones at Tiahuanaco, and found it to be 38 feet long, 18 broad, and 6 deep. Historia Natural de las Indias, lib. vi, cap. 14, p. 419.
(In the Intellectual Observer for May 1863, there is an excellent engraving of one of the great monolithic doorways at Tiahuanaco, to illustrate a paper by Mr. Bollaert.)
[502] The famous ruins of Tiahuanaco, generally considered to be long anterior to the time of the Yncas, appear, like those at Ollantay-tambo, to be remains of edifices which were never completed.
Garcilasso de la Vega gives the following account of Tiahuanaco. “Amongst other works in this place, one of them is a hill, made artificially, and so high that the fact of its having been made by man causes astonishment; and, that it might not be loosened, it was built upon great foundations of stone. It is not known why this edifice was made. In another part, away from the hill, there were two figures of giants carved in stone, with long robes down to the ground, and caps on their heads: all well worn by the hand of time, which proves their great antiquity. There is also an enormous wall of stones, so large that the greatest wonder is caused to imagine how human force could have raised them to the place where they now are. For there are no rocks nor quarries within a great distance, from whence they could have been brought. In other parts there are grand edifices, and what causes most astonishment are some great doorways of stone, some of them made out of one single stone. The marvel is increased by their wonderful size, for some of them were found to measure 30 feet in length, 15 in breadth, and 6 in depth. And these stones, with their doorways, are all of one single piece, so that it cannot be understood with what instruments or tools they can have been worked.
“The natives say that all these edifices were built before the time of the Yncas, and that the Yncas built the fortress of Cuzco in imitation of them. They know not who erected them, but have heard their forefathers say that all these wonderful works were completed in a single night. The ruins appear never to have been finished, but to have been merely the commencement of what the founders intended to have built. All the above is from Pedro de Cieza de Leon, in his 105th chapter; to which I propose to add some further particular obtained from a schoolfellow of mine, a priest named Diego de Alcobasa (who I may call my brother, for we were born in the same house, and his father brought me up). Amongst other accounts, which he and others have sent me from my native land, he says the following respecting these great edifices of Tiahuanaco. ‘In Tiahuanaco, in the province of Collao, amongst other things, there are some ancient ruins worthy of immortal memory. They are near the lake called by the Spaniards Chucuito, the proper name of which is Chuquivitu. Here there are some very grand edifices, and amongst them there is a square court, 15 brazas each way, with walls two stories high. On one side of this court there is a hall 45 feet long by 22 broad, apparently once covered, in the same way as those buildings you have seen in the house of the sun at Cuzco, with a roof of straw. The walls, roofs, floor, and doorways are all of one single piece, carved out of a rock, and the walls of the court and of the hall are three-quarters of a yard in breadth. The roof of the hall, though it appears to be thatch, is really of stone. For as the Indians cover their houses with thatch, in order that this might appear like the rest, they have combed and carved the stone so that it resembles a roof of thatch. The waters of the lake wash the walls of the court. The natives say that this and the other buildings were dedicated to the Creator of the universe. There are also many other stones carved into the shape of men and women so naturally that they appear to be alive, some drinking with cups in their hands, others sitting, others standing, and others walking in the stream which flows by the walls. There are also statues of women with their infants in their laps, others with them on their backs, and in a thousand other postures. The Indians say that for the great sins of the people of those times, and because they stoned a man who was passing through the province, they were all converted into these statues.’
“Thus far are the words of Diego de Alcobasa, who has been a vicar and preacher to the Indians in many provinces of this kingdom, having been sent by his superiors from one part to another: for, being a mestizo and native of Cuzco, he knows the language of the Indians better than others who are born in the country, and his labours bear more fruit.”
The part of the country in which Tia-huanaco is situated, was first conquered by Mayta Ccapac, the fourth Ynca. The name is derived from a circumstance connected with the conquest. It is said that, while the Ynca was engaged in this campaign against the Aymara nation, and being encamped amongst the ruins, a Cañari Indian, serving as a chasqui or courier, arrived from Cuzco in an extraordinarily short space of time. The Ynca exclaimed Tia (Be seated) Huanaco: the huanaco being the swiftest animal in Peru. Thus, like Luxor, and so many other famous places, these wonderful ruins have received a comparatively modern name, which has no real connection with their history.
[503] See chapter lxxxvii.
[504] On the 26th of October 1547 Centeno mustered a thousand men, of whom 250 were mounted. Gonzalo Pizarro’s force barely amounted to 400 infantry and 85 cavalry. Pizarro gained a complete victory, and 350 of Centeno’s followers were killed.
[505] The president Gasca ordered Don Alonzo de Mendoza, an officer who had come over to him from the party of Gonzalo Pizarro, to found a new city south of lake Titicaca, which was to be called “La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de la Paz;” to commemorate the peace which had been established, after the overthrow of the rebel Gonzalo Pizarro. It was deemed convenient that there should be a Spanish settlement between Cuzco and the rich silver-yielding province of Charcas, and thus the building of the city of La Paz was commenced. It is now one of the principal towns in the modern Republic of Bolivia.