One of the things which I admired most, in contemplating and noting down the affairs of this kingdom, was to think how and in what manner they can have made such grand and admirable roads as we now see, and what a number of men would suffice for their construction, and with what tools and instruments they can have levelled the mountains and broken through the rocks to make them so broad and good as they are. For it seems to me that if the Emperor should desire to give orders for another royal road to be made, like that which goes from Quito to Cuzco, or the other from Cuzco to go to Chile, with all his power I believe that he could not get it done; nor could any force of men achieve such results unless there was also the perfect order by means of which the commands of the Incas were carried into execution. For if the road to be made was fifty leagues long, or one hundred or two hundred, and though the ground was of the most rugged character, it would be done with diligent care. But their roads were much longer, some of them extending for over one thousand one hundred leagues along such dizzy and frightful abysses that, looking down, the sight failed one. In some places, to secure the regular width, it was necessary to hew a path out of the living rock; all which was done with fire and their picks. In other places the ascents were so steep and high that steps had to be cut from below to enable the ascent to be made, with wider spaces at intervals for resting-places. In other parts there were great heaps of snow, which were more to be feared, and not at one spot only, but often recurring. Where these snows obstructed the way, and where there were forests of trees and loose clods of earth, the road was levelled and paved with stones when necessary. Those who read this book, and have been in Peru, will remember the road which goes from Lima to Xauxa by the rugged mountains of Huarochiri and the snowy heights of Pariacaca, and will understand if they have heard or seen more than I write. Besides this, they will remember the path which descends to the river Apurimac, and how the road passes along the mountains of Paltas, Caxas, and Ayancas, and other parts of this kingdom where it is fifteen feet wide, a little more or less; and in time of the kings it was kept clean, so that there was neither a loose stone nor a growing weed on it, for it was always kept in good order. In the inhabited parts, near the towns, there were great palaces and lodgings for the soldiers. In the snowy wildernesses and plains, shelter-houses were built, where travellers could take refuge from the cold and rain. In many places, as in the Collao and other parts, there were distance-marks like the heaps in Europe which indicate boundaries, except that those in Peru are larger and better made. They called them _topos_,[102] and the distance between them is a Castillian league and a half.