KEY:— A, Lid or cover of some aperture, of stone, with two handles neatly undercut. B, A window of trachyte, of careful workmanship, in one piece. C, Block of masonry with carving. D, E, Two views of a corner-piece to some stone conduit, carefully ornamented with projecting lines. F, G, H, I, Other pieces of cut masonry lying about. ] For there is reason to believe that a powerful empire had existed in Peru centuries before the rise of the Inca dynasty. Cyclopean ruins, quite foreign to the genius of Inca architecture, point to this conclusion. The wide area over which they are found is an indication that the government which caused them to be built ruled over an extensive empire, while their cyclopean character is a proof that their projectors had an almost unlimited supply of labor. Religious myths and dynastic traditions throw some doubtful light on that remote past, which has left its silent memorials in the huge stones of Tiahuanacu, Sacsahuaman, and Ollantay, and in the altar of Concacha. [Illustration: CARVINGS AT TIAHUANACU. KEY:— A, Portion of the ornament which runs along the base of the rows of figures on the monolithic doorway. B, Prostrate idol lying on its face near the ruins; about 9 feet long.] [Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS AT TIAHUANACU. KEY:— A, A winged human figure with the crowned head of a condor, from the central row on the monolithic doorway. B, A winged human figure with human head crowned, from the upper row on the monolithic doorway. [There are well-executed cuts of these sculptures in Ruge’s _Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_, pp. 430, 431. Cf. Squier’s _Peru_, p. 292.—ED.]] The most interesting ruins in Peru are those of the palace or temple near the village of Tiahuanacu,[1147] on the southern side of Lake Titicaca. They are 12,930 feet above the level of the sea, and 130 above that of the lake, which is about twelve miles off. [Illustration: FRAGMENTS AT TIAHUANACU. Various curiously carved stones found scattered about the ruins.] [Illustration: REVERSE OF THE DOORWAY AT TIAHUANACU. [Cf. view in Squier’s _Peru_, p. 289, with other particulars of the ruins, p. 276, etc.—ED.]] They consist of a quadrangular space, entered by the famous monolithic doorway, and surrounded by large stones standing on end; and of a hill or mound encircled by remains of a wall, consisting of enormous blocks of stone. The whole covers an area about 400 yards long by 350 broad. There is a lesser temple, about a quarter of a mile distant, containing stones 36 feet long by 7, and 26 by 16, with recesses in them which have been compared to seats of judgment. The weight of the two great stones has been estimated at from 140 to 200 tons each, and the distance of the quarries whence they could have been brought is from 15 to 40 miles. [Illustration: IMAGE AT TIAHUANACU.