Figure 38, a gold ornament worn on the forehead; the button, representing the sun.
On a high hill on the north side of the city are remains of the walls of the ancient fortress Sacsahuamam. The largest sized stone in the drawing measured twenty-two feet at the base, and twelve and a half feet perpendicularly, independent of its depth in the ground and wall. The Indian boy standing near was full grown. We were at a loss to know how the ancient Peruvians could handle such heavy masses, and transport them half a mile over ground nearly level; but some recent discoveries by Mr. Layard, in Asia, show no similar acts by human powers and mechanical skill.
By Lieut. L. Gibbon U. S. N.
Lith. of P.S. Duval & Co. Phil.
NORTH VIEW OF THE REMAINS OF THE INCA'S FORT, SACSAHUAMAM, Cuzco.
The area occupied by this fortress may be about twelve acres. No fortification in North America would more safely defy the effects of round shot and shell, though built by people ignorant of such war agents. The angles and ground plan are systematically laid down; the stairways, by which the fort was entered, are built so as to be easily shut up by large stones from the inside, making the door quite as secure from the outside as the wall itself. The walls encircle the top of the hill, the peak of which stands considerably above the ruins. On the north side of the ruins, from which this view was taken, there are many seats and flat places carved in the rocks, whence it is supposed people witnessed plays on the flats, which have the appearance of parade-grounds. Among these rocks there is a hole, said to be the entrance to a subterraneous passage under the hill to the Temple of the Sun, a distance of half a mile. I entered it, but could not proceed far, and came away with doubts. Subterraneous roads, made by the order of the Incas, are believed by some to exist between Tarma and Cuzco.
In the small stream flowing by this fortress, and through the city of Cuzco, I washed some sand in a pan, and found grains of gold. The Indians now seek the cultivation of the soil rather than gold-washing, and find it more profitable. During the reign of the Incas, the precious metals were solely used by them as ornaments and utensils, and not for a currency, as now.
From time to time, during the reign of the Incas, the neighboring tribes of Indians were brought under their control, either by persuasive means or by force of arms, until their territory extended from the Pacific coast on the west to the eastern slope of the Andes, and from Quito, near the equator on the north, into Chili, near latitude 40° south. Some of these Incas were great warriors, who marched to the frontiers with a determination to extend their laws and religion over other territory, until their possessions became so great, that the twelfth Inca decided to deviate from the constitution established by the first, and gave the southern portion of the kingdom to his eldest, and the northern portion to another son. These brothers quarrelled. Francisco Pizarro took the conqueror prisoner and had him hung, which completed the fall of the Peruvian empire, the civilization of which yet astonishes the Spaniards.