"The _andenes_, as the terraced fields which cover the hill-slopes of the Andine region are termed, are worthy of detailed description. They exist in almost every valley, extending upwards from the coast and the foothills to elevations of 12,000 feet, and even 16,000 feet or more, covering the slopes even in the most inaccessible situations and rigorous altitudes. From some high saddle or summit whence the surrounding horizon is visible, the observer notes a curious chequered or rippled appearance upon the flanks of the ridges, as far as the eye can reach, from the floor of the valleys up to the precipitous rock escarpments. They are the _andenes_; small terraces, one after the other, embanked on the lower sides with stone walls, like a series of irregular steps, where the soil has been collected and cultivated. The great number of these small holdings in every direction throughout the Peruvian Sierra has given rise to the supposition that a numerous population inhabited the Andes in prehistoric times--estimates even of ninety million inhabitants having been made. But this is fabulous, although it is evident that a numerous people must have formed and cultivated these remarkable terraces, of whom the present population are only a residue. "Adjacent to these valleys, especially in certain districts, as upon the Upper Marañon,[36] are groups of extensive ruins of habitations, as well as of burying-places, known as _huacas_--often containing mummies--and of castles and fortresses. These latter often command the heads of valleys and defiles, and they go to show that the former inhabitants must have dwelt as separate groups or communities under the leadership of some chief--probably in pre-Inca times. These _andenes_, as the Spaniards termed the terraces when they conquered Peru, may have given rise, it has been surmised, to the name of the Andes; but this probably is not correct, the real derivation undoubtedly coming from the name of the _Antis_--a tribe which inhabited the snow-covered Cordillera region, which was termed by the Incas _Ant-isuyu_. This name, in Quechua, signifies 'copper-bearing,' and copper was extensively used by the Incas. [36] Visited by the author and described before the Royal Geographical Society. "The Cholo, then, provides for his wants, and he is quite independent--when allowed to be so--of the governing race. He asks nothing from civilization, and indeed this has, so far, brought him mainly two things--the superstitious part of the Roman Catholic religion, and alcohol! The one has partly improved his mind--the other tends to ruin his body.