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
Indians could open it in less than a week. Our hosts, excited by the
pictures we had shown them of Machu Picchu, and now believing that
even finer ruins might be found on their own property, immediately
gave orders to have the path to Yurak Rumi cleared for our benefit.
While this was being done, Señora Carmen's son, the manager of the
plantation, offered to accompany us himself to Ccllumayu, where other
"important ruins" had been found, which could be reached in a few
hours without cutting any new trails. Acting on his assurance that we
should not need tent or cots, we left our camping outfit behind and
followed him to a small valley on the south side of the Urubamba. We
found Ccllumayu to consist of two huts in a small clearing. Densely
wooded slopes rose on all sides. The manager requested two of
the Indian tenants to act as guides. With them, we plunged into
the thick jungle and spent a long and fatiguing day searching in
vain for ruins. That night the manager returned to Huadquiña, but
Professor Foote and I preferred to remain in Ccllumayu and prosecute
a more vigorous search on the next day. We shared a little thatched
hut with our Indian hosts and a score of fat cuys (guinea pigs), the
chief source of the Ccllumayu meat supply. The hut was built of rough
wattles which admitted plenty of fresh air and gave us comfortable
ventilation. Primitive little sleeping-platforms, also of wattles,
constructed for the needs of short, stocky Indians, kept us from
being overrun by inquisitive cuys, but could hardly be called as
comfortable as our own folding cots which we had left at Huadquiña.
The next day our guides were able to point out in the woods a few
piles of stones, the foundations of oval or circular huts which
probably were built by some primitive savage tribe in prehistoric
times. Nothing further could be found here of ruins, "important"
or otherwise, although we spent three days at Ccllumayu. Such was
our first disillusionment.
On our return to Huadquiña, we learned that the trail to Yurak Rumi
would be ready "in a day or two." In the meantime our hosts became much
interested in Professor Foote's collection of insects. They brought
an unnamed scorpion and informed us that an orange orchard surrounded
by high walls in a secluded place back of the house was "a great
place for spiders." We found that their statement was not exaggerated
and immediately engaged in an enthusiastic spider hunt. When these
Huadquiña spiders were studied at the Harvard Museum of Comparative
Zoölogy, Dr. Chamberlain found among them the representatives of four
new genera and nineteen species hitherto unknown to science. As a
reward of merit, he gave Professor Foote's name to the scorpion!
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FIGURE
Ruins of Yurak Rumi near Huadquiña. Probably an Inca Storehouse, well
ventilated and well drained. Drawn by A. H. Bumstead from measurements
and photographs by Hiram Bingham and H. W. Foote.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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