Two styles are discernible in Inca architecture. The earliest is an imitation of the cyclopean works of their ancestors on a smaller scale. The walls were built with polygonal-shaped stones with rough surfaces, but the stones were much reduced in size. Rows of doorways with slanting sides and monolithic lintels adorn the façades; while recesses for huacas, shaped like the doorways, occur in the interior walls. Part of the palace called the Collcampata, at the foot of the Cuzco fortress, the buildings which were added to the cyclopean work at Ollantay tampu, the older portion of the Ccuri-cancha temple at Cuzco, the palaces at Chinchero and Rimac-tampu, are in this earlier style. The later style is seen mainly at Cuzco, where the stones are laid in regular courses. No one has described this superb masonry better than Squier.[1202] No cement or mortar of any kind was used, the edifices depending entirely on the accuracy of their stone-fitting for their stability. The palaces and temples were built round a court-yard, and a hall of vast dimensions, large enough for ceremonies on an extensive scale, was included in the plan of most of the edifices. These halls were 200 paces long by 50 to 60 broad. The dimensions of the Ccuri-cancha temple were 296 feet by 52, and the southwest end was apsidal. Serpents are carved in relief on some of the stones and lintels of the Cuzco palaces. Hence the palace of Huayna Ccapac is called Amaru-cancha.[1203] At Hatun-colla, near Lake Titicaca, there are two sandstone pillars, probably of Inca origin, which are very richly carved. They are covered with figures of serpents, lizards, and frogs, and with elaborate geometrical patterns. The height of the walls of the Cuzco edifices was from 35 to 40 feet, and the roofs were thatched. One specimen of the admirable thatching of the Incas is still preserved at Azangaro.
LAKE TITICACA.
[One of the cuts which did service in the Antwerp editions of Cieza de Leon.—Ed.]
There are many ruins throughout Peru both in the earlier and later styles; some of them, such as those at Vilcashuaman and Huanuco el viejo, being of great interest. The Inca palace on the island in Lake Titicaca is a rectangular two-storied edifice, with numerous rooms having ceilings formed of flat overlapping stones, laid with great regularity. With its esplanade, beautiful terraced gardens, baths, and fountains, this Titicaca palace must have been intended for the enjoyment of beautiful scenery in comparative seclusion, like the now destroyed palace at Yucay, in the valley of the Vilcamayu.
An example of the improvement of architecture after Inca subjugation is shown in the curious burial-places, or chulpas, of the Collao, in the basin of Lake Titicaca. The earliest, as seen at Acora near the lake, closely resemble the rude cromlechs of Brittany. Next, roughly built square towers are met with, with vaults inside. Lastly, the chulpas at Sillustani are well-built circular towers, about 40 feet high and 16 feet in diameter at the base, widening as they rise. A cornice runs round each tower, about three fourths of the distance from the base to the summit. The stones are admirably cut and fitted in nearly even courses, like the walls at Cuzco. The interior circular vaults, which contained the bodies, were arched with overlapping stones, and a similar dome formed the roof of the towers.
MAP OF TITICACA, WITH WIENER’S ROUTE.
The architectural excellence reached by the Incas, their advances in the other arts and in literature, and the imperial magnificence of their court and religious worship, imply the existence of an orderly and well-regulated administrative system. An examination of their social polity will not disappoint even high expectations. The Inca, though despotic in theory, was bound by the complicated code of rules and customs which had gradually developed itself during the reigns of his ancestors. In his own extensive family, composed of Auqui[1204] and Atauchi,[1205] Palla[1206] and Ñusta,[1207] to the number of many hundreds,[1208] and in the Curacas[1209] and Apu-curacas[1210] of the conquered tribes, he had a host of able public servants to govern provinces, enter the priesthood, or command armies.