The Fortress of Uiticos and the House of the Sun
When the viceroy, Toledo, determined to conquer that last stronghold of
the Incas where for thirty-five years they had defied the supreme
power of Spain, he offered a thousand dollars a year as a pension
to the soldier who would capture Tupac Amaru. Captain Garcia
earned the pension, but failed to receive it; the "mañana habit"
was already strong in the days of Philip II. So the doughty captain
filed a collection of testimonials with Philip's Royal Council of
the Indies. Among these is his own statement of what happened on the
campaign against Tupac Amaru. In this he says: "and having arrived
at the principal fortress, Guay-napucará ["the young fortress"],
which the Incas had fortified, we found it defended by the Prince
Philipe Quispetutio, a son of the Inca Titu Cusi, with his captains
and soldiers. It is on a high eminence surrounded with rugged crags and
jungles, very dangerous to ascend and almost impregnable. Nevertheless,
with my aforesaid company of soldiers I went up and gained the
fortress, but only with the greatest possible labor and danger. Thus
we gained the province of Uilcapampa." The viceroy himself says this
important victory was due to Captain Garcia's skill and courage in
storming the heights of Guaynapucará, "on Saint John the Baptist's day,
in 1572."
The "Hill of Roses" is indeed "a high eminence surrounded with rugged
crags." The side of easiest approach is protected by a splendid, long
wall, built so carefully as not to leave a single toe-hold for active
besiegers. The barracks at Uncapampa could have furnished a contingent
to make an attack on that side very dangerous. The hill is steep on
all sides, and it would have been extremely easy for a small force
to have defended it. It was undoubtedly "almost impregnable." This
was the feature Captain Garcia was most likely to remember.
On the very summit of the hill are the ruins of a partly enclosed
compound consisting of thirteen or fourteen houses arranged so as to
form a rough square, with one large and several small courtyards. The
outside dimensions of the compound are about 160 feet by 145 feet. The
builders showed the familiar Inca sense of symmetry in arranging
the houses, Due to the wanton destruction of many buildings by the
natives in their efforts at treasure-hunting, the walls have been so
pulled down that it is impossible to get the exact dimensions of the
buildings. In only one of them could we be sure that there had been
any niches.
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FIGURE
Principal Doorway of the Long Palace at Rosaspata
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FIGURE
Another Doorway in the Ruins of Rosaspata
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Most interesting of all is the structure which caught the attention
of Ocampo and remained fixed in his memory. Enough remains of this
building to give a good idea of its former grandeur. It was indeed a
fit residence for a royal Inca, an exile from Cuzco. It is 245 feet by
43 feet. There were no windows, but it was lighted by thirty doorways,
fifteen in front and the same in back. It contained ten large rooms,
besides three hallways running from front to rear. The walls were built
rather hastily and are not noteworthy, but the principal entrances,
namely, those leading to each hall, are particularly well made; not,
to be sure, of "marble" as Ocampo said--there is no marble in the
province--but of finely cut ashlars of white granite. The lintels
of the principal doorways, as well as of the ordinary ones, are
also of solid blocks of white granite, the largest being as much as
eight feet in length. The doorways are better than any other ruins in
Uilcapampa except those of Machu Picchu, thus justifying the mention
of them made by Ocampo, who lived near here and had time to become
thoroughly familiar with their appearance. Unfortunately, a very
small portion of the edifice was still standing. Most of the rear
doors had been filled up with ashlars, in order to make a continuous
fence. Other walls had been built from the ruins, to keep cattle out
of the cultivated pampa. Rosaspata is at an elevation which places it
on the borderland between the cold grazing country, with its root crops
and sublimated pigweeds, and the temperate zone where maize flourishes.
On the south side of the hilltop, opposite the long palace, is the ruin
of a single structure, 78 feet long and 35 feet wide, containing doors
on both sides, no niches and no evidence of careful workmanship. It
was probably a barracks for a company of soldiers.
The intervening "pampa" might have been the scene of those games
of bowls and quoits, which were played by the Spanish refugees who
fled from the wrath of Gonzalo Pizarro and found refuge with the Inca
Manco. Here may have occurred that fatal game when one of the players
lost his temper and killed his royal host.
Our excavations in 1915 yielded a mass of rough potsherds, a few Inca
whirl-bobs and bronze shawl pins, and also a number of iron articles of
European origin, heavily rusted--horseshoe nails, a buckle, a pair of
scissors, several bridle or saddle ornaments, and three Jew's-harps. My
first thought was that modern Peruvians must have lived here at one
time, although the necessity of carrying all water supplies up the hill
would make this unlikely. Furthermore, the presence here of artifacts
of European origin does not of itself point to such a conclusion. In
the first place, we know that Manco was accustomed to make raids
on Spanish travelers between Cuzco and Lima. He might very easily
have brought back with him a Spanish bridle. In the second place the
musical instruments may have belonged to the refugees, who might have
enjoyed whiling away their exile with melancholy twanging. In the
third place the retainers of the Inca probably visited the Spanish
market in Cuzco, where there would have been displayed at times a
considerable assortment of goods of European manufacture. Finally
Rodriguez de Figueroa speaks expressly of two pairs of scissors he
brought as a present to Titu Cusi. That no such array of European
artifacts has been turned up in the excavations of other important
sites in the province of Uilcapampa would seem to indicate that they
were abandoned before the Spanish Conquest or else were occupied by
natives who had no means of accumulating such treasures.
Thanks to Ocampo's description of the fortress which Tupac Amaru was
occupying in 1572 there is no doubt that this was the palace of the
last Inca. Was it also the capital of his brothers, Titu Cusi and Sayri
Tupac, and his father, Manco? It is astonishing how few details we have
by which the Uiticos of Manco may be identified. His contemporaries
are strangely silent. When he left Cuzco and sought refuge "in the
remote fastnesses of the Andes," there was a Spanish soldier, Cieza
de Leon, in the armies of Pizarro who had a genius for seeing and
hearing interesting things and writing them down, and who tried to
interview as many members of the royal family as he could;--Manco
had thirteen brothers. Ciezo de Leon says he was much disappointed
not to be able to talk with Manco himself and his sons, but they had
"retired into the provinces of Uiticos, which are in the most retired
part of those regions, beyond the great Cordillera of the Andes." [12]
The Spanish refugees who died as the result of the murder of Manco
may not have known how to write. Anyhow, so far as we can learn they
left no accounts from which any one could identify his residence.
Titu Cusi gives no definite clue, but the activities of Friar Marcos
and Friar Diego, who came to be his spiritual advisers, are fully
described by Calancha. It will be remembered that Calancha remarks that
"close to Uiticos in a village called Chuquipalpa, is a House of the
Sun and in it a white stone over a spring of water." Our guide had
told us there was such a place close to the hill of Rosaspata.
On the day after making the first studies of the "Hill of Roses," I
followed the impatient Mogrovejo--whose object was not to study ruins
but to earn dollars for finding them--and went over the hill on its
northeast side to the Valley of Los Andenes ("the Terraces"). Here,
sure enough, was a large, white granite boulder, flattened on top,
which had a carved seat or platform on its northern side. Its west
side covered a cave in which were several niches. This cave had been
walled in on one side. When Mogrovejo and the Indian guide said there
was a manantial de agua ("spring of water") near by, I became greatly
interested. On investigation, however, the" spring" turned out to
be nothing but part of a small irrigating ditch. (Manantial means
"spring"; it also means "running water"). But the rock was not "over
the water." Although this was undoubtedly one of those huacas, or
sacred boulders, selected by the Incas as the visible representations
of the founders of a tribe and thus was an important accessory to
ancestor worship, it was not the Yurak Rumi for which we were looking.
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FIGURE
Northeast Face of Yurak Rumi
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Leaving the boulder and the ruins of what possibly had been the house
of its attendant priest, we followed the little water course past a
large number of very handsomely built agricultural terraces, the first
we had seen since leaving Machu Picchu and the most important ones in
the valley. So scarce are andenes in this region and so noteworthy were
these in particular that this vale has been named after them. They were
probably built under the direction of Manco. Near them are a number of
carved boulders, huacas. One had an intihuatana, or sundial nubbin,
on it; another was carved in the shape of a saddle. Continuing, we
followed a trickling stream through thick woods until we suddenly
arrived at an open place called ñusta Isppana. Here before us was a
great white rock over a spring. Our guides had not misled us. Beneath
the trees were the ruins of an Inca temple, flanking and partly
enclosing the gigantic granite boulder, one end of which overhung a
small pool of running water. When we learned that the present name
of this immediate vicinity is Chuquipalta our happiness was complete.
It was late on the afternoon of August 9, 1911, when I first saw this
remarkable shrine. Densely wooded hills rose on every side. There was
not a hut to be seen; scarcely a sound to be heard. It was an ideal
place for practicing the mystic ceremonies of an ancient cult. The
remarkable aspect of this great boulder and the dark pool beneath its
shadow had caused this to become a place of worship. Here, without
doubt, was "the principal mochadero of those forested mountains." It is
still venerated by the Indians of the vicinity. At last we had found
the place where, in the days of Titu Cusi, the Inca priests faced the
east, greeted the rising sun, "extended their hands toward it," and
"threw kisses to it," "a ceremony of the most profound resignation and
reverence." We may imagine the sun priests, clad in their resplendent
robes of office, standing on the top of the rock at the edge of
its steepest side, their faces lit up with the rosy light of the
early morning, awaiting the moment when the Great Divinity should
appear above the eastern hills and receive their adoration. As it
rose they saluted it and cried: "O Sun! Thou who art in peace and
safety, shine upon us, keep us from sickness, and keep us in health
and safety. O Sun! Thou who hast said let there be Cuzco and Tampu,
grant that these children may conquer all other people. We beseech
thee that thy children the Incas may be always conquerors, since it
is for this that thou hast created them."
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FIGURE
Plan of the Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Ñusta Isppana Formerly
Yurak Rumi in Chuquipalpa Near Uiticos
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It was during Titu Cusi's reign that Friars Marcos and Diego marched
over here with their converts from Puquiura, each carrying a stick of
firewood. Calancha says the Indians worshiped the water as a divine
thing, that the Devil had at times shown himself in the water. Since
the surface of the little pool, as one gazes at it, does not reflect
the sky, but only the overhanging, dark, mossy rock, the water looks
black and forbidding, even to unsuperstitious Yankees. It is easy to
believe that simple-minded Indian worshipers in this secluded spot
could readily believe that they actually saw the Devil appearing
"as a visible manifestation" in the water. Indians came from the most
sequestered villages of the dense forests to worship here and to offer
gifts and sacrifices. Nevertheless, the Augustinian monks here raised
the standard of the cross, recited their orisons, and piled firewood
all about the rock and temple. Exorcising the Devil and calling him
by all the vile names they could think of, the friars commanded him
never to return. Setting fire to the pile, they burned up the temple,
scorched the rock, making a powerful impression on the Indians and
causing the poor Devil to flee, "roaring in a fury." "The cruel Devil
never more returned to the rock nor to this district." Whether the
roaring which they heard was that of the Devil or of the flames we
can only conjecture. Whether the conflagration temporarily dried up
the swamp or interfered with the arrangements of the water supply so
that the pool disappeared for the time being and gave the Devil no
chance to appear in the water, where he had formerly been accustomed
to show himself, is also a matter for speculation.
The buildings of the House of the Sun are in a very ruinous state,
but the rock itself, with its curious carvings, is well preserved
notwithstanding the great conflagration of 1570. Its length is
fifty-two feet, its width thirty feet, and its height above the present
level of the water, twenty-five feet. On the west side of the rock are
seats and large steps or platforms. It was customary to kill llamas at
these holy huacas. On top of the rock is a flattened place which may
have been used for such sacrifices. From it runs a little crack in
the boulder, which has been artificially enlarged and may have been
intended to carry off the blood of the victim killed on top of the
rock. It is still used for occult ceremonies of obscure origin which
are quietly practiced here by the more superstitious Indian women of
the valley, possibly in memory of the ñusta or Inca princess for whom
the shrine is named.
On the south side of the monolith are several large platforms and four
or five small seats which have been cut in the rock. Great care was
exercised in cutting out the platforms. The edges are very nearly
square, level, and straight. The east side of the rock projects
over the spring. Two seats have been carved immediately above the
water. On the north side there are no seats. Near the water, steps
have been carved. There is one flight of three and another of seven
steps. Above them the rock has been flattened artificially and carved
into a very bold relief. There are ten projecting square stones,
like those usually called intihuatana or "places to which the sun
is tied." In one line are seven; one is slightly apart from the six
others. The other three are arranged in a triangular position above
the seven. It is significant that these stones are on the northeast
face of the rock, where they are exposed to the rising sun and cause
striking shadows at sunrise.
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FIGURE
Carved Seats and Platforms of Ñusta Isppana
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FIGURE
Two of the Seven Seats Near the Spring Under the Great White Rock
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Our excavations yielded no artifacts whatever and only a handful of
very rough old potsherds of uncertain origin. The running water under
the rock was clear and appeared to be a spring, but when we drained
the swamp which adjoins the great rock on its northeastern side, we
found that the spring was a little higher up the hill and that the
water ran through the dark pool. We also found that what looked like
a stone culvert on the borders of the little pool proved to be the
top of the back of a row of seven or eight very fine stone seats. The
platform on which the seats rested and the seats themselves are parts
of three or four large rocks nicely fitted together. Some of the
seats are under the black shadows of the overhanging rock. Since the
pool was an object of fear and mystery the seats were probably used
only by priests or sorcerers. It would have been a splendid place to
practice divination. No doubt the devils "roared."
All our expeditions in the ancient province of Uilcapampa have
failed to disclose the presence of any other "white rock over a
spring of water" surrounded by the ruins of a possible "House of
the Sun." Consequently it seems reasonable to adopt the following
conclusions: First, ñusta Isppana is the Yurak Rumi of Father
Calancha. The Chuquipalta of to-day is the place to which he refers
as Chuquipalpa. Second, Uiticos, "close to" this shrine, was once
the name of the present valley of Vilcabamba between Tincochaca and
Lucma. This is the "Viticos" of Cieza de Leon, a contemporary of Manco,
who says that it was to the province of Viticos that Manco determined
to retire when he rebelled against Pizarro, and that "having reached
Viticos with a great quantity of treasure collected from various
parts, together with his women and retinue, the king, Manco Inca,
established himself in the strongest place he could find, whence he
sallied forth many times and in many directions and disturbed those
parts which were quiet, to do what harm he could to the Spaniards,
whom he considered as cruel enemies." Third, the "strongest place"
of Cieza, the Guaynapucará of Garcia, was Rosaspata, referred to by
Ocampo as "the fortress of Pitcos," where, he says, "there was a level
space with majestic buildings," the most noteworthy feature of which
was that they had two kinds of doors and both kinds had white stone
lintels. Fourth, the modern village of Pucyura in the valley of the
river Vilcabamba is the Puquiura of Father Calancha, the site of the
first mission church in this region, as assumed by Raimondi, although
he was disappointed in the insignificance of the "wretched little
village." The remains of the old quartz-crushing plant in Tincochaca,
which has already been noted, the distance from the "House of the Sun,"
not too great for the religious procession, and the location of Pucyura
near the fortress, all point to the correctness of this conclusion.
Finally, Calancha says that Friar Ortiz, after he had secured
permission from Titu Cusi to establish the second missionary station
in Uilcapampa, selected "the town of Huarancalla, which was populous
and well located in the midst of a number of other little towns and
villages. There was a distance of two or three days' journey from
one convent to the other. Leaving Friar Marcos in Puquiura, Friar
Diego went to his new establishment, and in a short time built a
church." There is no "Huarancalla" to-day, nor any tradition of any,
but in Mapillo, a pleasant valley at an elevation of about 10,000
feet, in the temperate zone where the crops with which the Incas
were familiar might have been raised, near pastures where llamas and
alpacas could have flourished, is a place called Huarancalque. The
valley is populous and contains a number of little towns and
villages. Furthermore, Huarancalque is two or three days' journey
from Pucyura and is on the road which the Indians of this region
now use in going to Ayacucho. This was undoubtedly the route used by
Manco in his raids on Spanish caravans. The Mapillo flows into the
Apurimac near the mouth of the river Pampas. Not far up the Pampas is
the important bridge between Bom-bon and Ocros, which Mr. Hay and I
crossed in 1909 on our way from Cuzco to Lima. The city of Ayacucho was
founded by Pizarro, a day's journey from this bridge. The necessity
for the Spanish caravans to cross the river Pampas at this point
made it easy for Manco's foraging expeditions to reach them by sudden
marches from Uiticos down the Mapillo River by way of Huarancalque,
which is probably the "Huarancalla" of Calancha's "Chronicles." He
must have had rafts or canoes on which to cross the Apurimac, which
is here very wide and deep. In the valleys between Huarancalque and
Lucma, Manco was cut off from central Peru by the Apurimac and its
magnificent canyon, which in many places has a depth of over two
miles. He was cut off from Cuzco by the inhospitable snow fields and
glaciers of Salcantay, Soray, and the adjacent ridges, even though
they are only fifty miles from Cuzco. Frequently all the passes are
completely snow-blocked. Fatalities have been known even in recent
years. In this mountainous province Manco could be sure of finding
not only security from his Spanish enemies, but any climate that he
desired and an abundance of food for his followers. There seems to
be no reason to doubt that the retired region around the modern town
of Pucyura in the upper Vilcabamba Valley was once called Uiticos.