Peru as It Is, Volume 2 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That CountrySmith, Archibald
History
Peru as It Is, Volume 2 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That Country
Smith, Archibald
Peru -- Description and travel
[73] The famous Temple of Pachacamac, whose mighty ruins form a beautiful
object from Buena Vista. Pachacamac, like the Temple of Cholula on the
plains of Mexico, is a sort of made mountain or vast terraced pyramid
of earth. It would be difficult to produce any evidence more conclusive
to the benignity of the climate than that which is exhibited on the
interior walls of this temple, whereof the mud plaster, though exposed
for centuries to the action of the atmosphere, remains to this day with
its rude paintings of red and yellow ochre as inviolate and fresh as if
it were the work of yesterday. By the bye, it may not be impertinent
to mention, that, among these paintings, we find what is called the
Grecian Scroll, which, if I am not mistaken, the Grecians borrowed
from the Egyptians. This may serve to throw some light upon the origin
of Pachacamac. Like that of Mexico,—nay, with still more emphatic
gesture,—the gigantic architecture of Peru points to the Cyclopian
family, the founders of the Temple of Babel and of the Egyptian Pyramids.
I believe (see Garcilaso) that the Temple of Pachacamac was standing when
that part of the coast was conquered by the Incas, so that there is no
knowing its age.
[74] Old Green’s Nonpareil, where the Hearts of Oak meet.
[75] “_Like stars_,” &c.—The milky way, which, by the bye, is far
grander in the southern than in the northern hemisphere, seems to have
been formed by the mutual gravitation of myriads of stars. The dark
spots which follow the course of that magnificent nebula, on each side
of it, are probably the spaces which the stars have left vacant and
lustreless.—See Herschel on Nebulæ.
THE END.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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