Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of PeruBingham, Hiram
History
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru
Bingham, Hiram
Incas; Peru -- Antiquities; Peru -- Description and travel
Passing Salapunco, we skirted granite cliffs and precipices and entered
a most interesting region, where we were surprised and charmed by the
extent of the ancient terraces, their length and height, the presence
of many Inca ruins, the beauty of the deep, narrow valleys, and the
grandeur of the snow-clad mountains which towered above them. Across
the river, near Qquente, on top of a series of terraces, we saw the
extensive ruins of Patallacta (pata = height or terrace; llacta =
town or city), an Inca town of great importance. It was not known to
Raimondi or Paz Soldan, but is indicated on Wiener's map, although he
does not appear to have visited it. We have been unable to find any
reference to it in the chronicles. We spent several months here in
1915 excavating and determining the character of the ruins. In another
volume I hope to tell more of the antiquities of this region. At
present it must suffice to remark that our explorations near Patallacta
disclosed no "white rock over a spring of water." None of the place
names in this vicinity fit in with the accounts of Uiticos. Their
identity remains a puzzle, although the symmetry of the buildings,
their architectural idiosyncrasies such as niches, stone roof-pegs,
bar-holds, and eye-bonders, indicate an Inca origin. At what date these
towns and villages flourished, who built them, why they were deserted,
we do not yet know; and the Indians who live hereabouts are ignorant,
or silent, as to their history.
At Torontoy, the end of the cultivated temperate valley, we found
another group of interesting ruins, possibly once the residence of
an Inca chief. In a cave near by we secured some mummies. The ancient
wrappings had been consumed by the natives in an effort to smoke out
the vampire bats that lived in the cave. On the opposite side of the
river are extensive terraces and above them, on a hilltop, other
ruins first visited by Messrs. Tucker and Hendriksen in 1911. One
of their Indian bearers, attempting to ford the rapids here with a
large surveying instrument, was carried off his feet, swept away by
the strong current, and drowned before help could reach him.
Near Torontoy is a densely wooded valley called the Pampa Ccahua. In
1915 rumors of Andean or "spectacled" bears having been seen here and
of damage having been done by them to some of the higher crops, led
us to go and investigate. We found no bears, but at an elevation of
12,000 feet were some very old trees, heavily covered with flowering
moss not hitherto known to science. Above them I was so fortunate as
to find a wild potato plant, the source from which the early Peruvians
first developed many varieties of what we incorrectly call the Irish
potato. The tubers were as large as peas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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