Of the village of Tiahuanaco, and of the great and ancient edifices
which are to be seen there.
Tiahuanaco is not a very large village, but it is celebrated for the
great edifices near it, which are certainly things worth seeing.[498]
Near the buildings there is a hill made by the hands of men, on great
foundations of stone.[499] Beyond this hill there are two stone idols,
of the human shape and figure, the features very skilfully carved, so
that they appear to have been done by the hand of some great master.
They are so large that they seem like small giants, and it is clear that
they have on a sort of clothing different from those now worn by the
natives of these parts. They seem to have some ornament on their
heads.[500] Near these stone statues there is another building. Their
antiquity and the want of letters, are the causes why it is not known
who built such vast foundations, and how much time has since elapsed;
for at present there is only a wall very well built, and which must have
been standing for many ages. Some of the stones are much worn. At this
part there are stones of such enormous size that it causes wonder to
think of them, and to reflect how human force can have sufficed to move
them to the place where we see them, being so large. Many of these
stones are carved in different ways, some of them having the shape of
the human body, which must have been their idols. Near the wall there
are many holes and hollow places in the ground. In another, more to the
westward, there are other ancient remains, among them many doorways,
with their jambs, lintels, and thresholds, all of one stone.[501] But
what I noted most particularly, when I wandered about over these ruins
writing down what I saw, was that from these great doorways there came
out other still larger stones, upon which the doorways were formed, some
of them thirty feet broad, fifteen or more long, and six in thickness.
The whole of this, with the doorway and its jambs and lintel, was all
one single stone. The work is one of grandeur and magnificence, when
well considered. For myself I fail to understand with what instruments
or tools it can have been done; for it is very certain that before these
great stones could be brought to perfection and left as we see them, the
tools must have been much better than those now used by the Indians. It
is to be noted, from what now appears of these edifices, that they were
not completed, for there is nothing but these portals, and other stones
of strange bigness which I saw, some of them shaped and dressed ready
to be placed on the edifice, which was a little on one side. Here there
was a great idol of stone, which must have been placed there to be
worshipped. It is rumoured that some gold was found near this idol; and
all round there are more stones, large and small, all dressed and fitted
like those already described.[502]
There are other things to be said concerning Tiahuanaco, which I pass
over, concluding with a statement of my belief that this ruin is the
most ancient in all Peru. It is asserted that these edifices were
commenced before the time of the Yncas, and I have heard some Indians
affirm that the Yncas built their grand edifices at Cuzco on the plan
which they had observed at the wall near these ruins. They even say that
the first Yncas thought of establishing their court at Tiahuanaco.
Another remarkable thing is, that in all this district there are no
quarries whence the numerous stones can have been brought, the carrying
of which must have required many people. I asked the natives, in
presence of Juan de Varagas (who holds them in _encomienda_), whether
these edifices were built in the time of the Yncas, and they laughed at
the question, affirming that they were made before the Yncas ever
reigned, but that they could not say who made them. They added that they
had heard from their fathers that all we saw was done in one night. From
this, and from the fact that they also speak of bearded men on the
island of Titicaca, and of others who built the edifice of Vinaque,[503]
it may, perhaps, be inferred that, before the Yncas reigned, there was
an intelligent race who came from some unknown part, and who did these
things. Being few, and the natives many, they may all have been killed
in the wars.
Seeing that all these things are hidden from us, we may well say,
Blessed be the invention of letters! by virtue of which the memory of
events endures for many ages, and their fame flies through the universe.
We are not ignorant of what we desire to know when we hold letters in
our hands. But in this new world of the Indies, as they knew nothing of
letters, we are in a state of blindness concerning many things. Apart
from these ruins there are the buildings of the Yncas, and the house
where Manco Ynca, the son of Huayna Ccapac, was born. Close by are the
tombs of the native chiefs of this place, as high as towers, broad and
square, with doors towards the rising sun.