The Origin of Machu Picchu
Some other day I hope to tell of the work of clearing and excavating
Machu Picchu, of the life lived by its citizens, and of the ancient
towns of which it was the most important. At present I must rest
content with a discussion of its probable identity. Here was a powerful
citadel tenable against all odds, a stronghold where a mere handful
of defenders could prevent a great army from taking the place by
assault. Why should any one have desired to be so secure from capture
as to have built a fortress in such an inaccessible place?
The builders were not in search of fields. There is so little arable
land here that every square yard of earth had to be terraced in
order to provide food for the inhabitants. They were not looking for
comfort or convenience. Safety was their primary consideration. They
were sufficiently civilized to practice intensive agriculture,
sufficiently skillful to equal the best masonry the world has ever
seen, sufficiently ingenious to make delicate bronzes, and sufficiently
advanced in art to realize the beauty of simplicity. What could have
induced such a people to select this remote fastness of the Andes,
with all its disadvantages, as the site for their capital, unless
they were fleeing from powerful enemies.
The thought will already have occurred to the reader that the Temple
of the Three Windows at Machu Picchu fits the words of that native
writer who had "heard from a child the most ancient traditions and
histories," including the story already quoted from Sir Clements
Markham's translation that Manco Ccapac, the first Inca, "ordered
works to be executed at the place of his birth; consisting of a
masonry wall with three windows, which were emblems of the house
of his fathers whence he descended. The first window was called
'Tampu-tocco.' " Although none of the other chroniclers gives the
story of the first Inca ordering a memorial wall to be built at the
place of his birth, they nearly all tell of his having come from a
place called Tampu-tocco, "an inn or country place remarkable for
its windows." Sir Clements Markham, in his "Incas of Peru," refers
to Tampu-tocco as "the hill with the three openings or windows."
The place assigned by all the chroniclers as the location of the
traditional Tampu-tocco, as has been said, is Paccaritampu, about nine
miles southwest of Cuzco. Paccaritampu has some interesting ruins and
caves, but careful examination shows that while there are more than
three openings to its caves, there are no windows in its buildings. The
buildings of Machu Picchu, on the other hand, have far more windows
than any other important ruin in Peru. The climate of Paccaritampu,
like that of most places in the highlands, is too severe to invite
or encourage the use of windows. The climate of Machu Picchu is mild,
consequently the use of windows was natural and agreeable.
So far as I know, there is no place in Peru where the ruins consist of
anything like a "masonry wall with three windows" of such a ceremonial
character as is here referred to, except at Machu Picchu. It would
certainly seem as though the Temple of the Three Windows, the most
significant structure within the citadel, is the building referred
to by Pachacuti Yamqui Saleamayhua.
------
FIGURE
The Masonry Wall with Three Windows, Machu Picchu
------
The principal difficulty with this theory is that while the
first meaning of tocco in Holguin's standard Quichua dictionary is
"ventana" or "window," and while "window" is the only meaning given
this important word in Markham's revised Quichua dictionary (1908),
a dictionary compiled from many sources, the second meaning of tocco
given by Holguin is "alacena," "a cupboard set in a wall." Undoubtedly
this means what we call, in the ruins of the houses of the Incas, a
niche. Now the drawings, crude as they are, in Sir Clements Markham's
translation of the Salcamayhua manuscript, do give the impression
of niches rather than of windows. Does Tampu-tocco mean a tampu
remarkable for its niches? At Paccaritampu there do not appear to be
any particularly fine niches; while at Machu Picchu, on the other hand,
there are many very beautiful niches, especially in the cave which has
been referred to as a "Royal Mausoleum." As a matter of fact, nearly
all the finest ruins of the Incas have excellent niches. Since niches
were so common a feature of Inca architecture, the chances are that Sir
Clements is right in translating Salcamayhua as he did and in calling
Tampu-tocco "the hill with the three openings or windows." In any case
Machu Picchu fits the story far better than does Paccaritampu. However,
in view of the fact that the early writers all repeat the story that
Tampu-tocco was at Paccaritampu, it would be absurd to say that they
did not know what they were talking about, even though the actual
remains at or near Paccaritampu do not fit the requirements.
It would be easier to adopt Paccaritampu as the site of Tampu-tocco
were it not for the legal records of an inquiry made by Toledo at the
time when he put the last Inca to death. Fifteen Indians, descended
from those who used to live near Las Salinas, the important salt works
near Cuzco, on being questioned, agreed that they had heard their
fathers and grandfathers repeat the tradition that when the first Inca,
Manco Ccapac, captured their lands, he came from Tampu-tocco. They did
not say that the first Inca came from Paccaritampu, which, it seems
to me, would have been a most natural thing for them to have said if
this were the general belief of the natives. In addition there is the
still older testimony of some Indians born before the arrival of the
first Spaniards, who were examined at a legal investigation in 1570. A
chief, aged ninety-two, testified that Manco Ccapac came out of a cave
called Tocco, and that he was lord of the town near that cave. Not
one of the witnesses stated that Manco Ccapac came from Paccaritampu,
although it is difficult to imagine why they should not have done
so if, as the contemporary historians believed, this was really the
original Tampu-tocco. The chroniclers were willing enough to accept
the interesting cave near Paccaritampu as the place where Manco
Ccapac was born, and from which he came to conquer Cuzco. Why were
the sworn witnesses so reticent? It seems hardly possible that they
should have forgotten where Tampu-tocco was supposed to have been. Was
their reticence due to the fact that its actual whereabouts had been
successfully kept secret? Manco Ccapac's home was that Tampu-tocco
to which the followers of Pachacuti VI fled with his body after the
overthrow of the old régime, a very secluded and holy place. Did they
know it was in the same fastnesses of the Andes to which in the days
of Pizarro the young Inca Manco had fled from Cuzco? Was this the
cause of their reticence?
Certainly the requirements of Tampu-tocco are met at Machu Picchu. The
splendid natural defenses of the Grand Canyon of the Urubamba made it
an ideal refuge for the descendants of the Amautas during the centuries
of lawlessness and confusion which succeeded the barbarian invasions
from the plains to the east and south. The scarcity of violent
earthquakes and also its healthfulness, both marked characteristics
of Tampu-tocco, are met at Machu Picchu. It is worth noting that the
existence of Machu Picchu might easily have been concealed from the
common people. At the time of the Spanish Conquest its location might
have been known only to the Inca and his priests.
So, notwithstanding the belief of the historians, I feel it is
reasonable to conclude that the first name of the ruins at Machu Picchu
was Tampu-tocco. Here Pachacuti VI was buried; here was the capital of
the little kingdom where during the centuries between the Amautas and
the Incas there was kept alive the wisdom, skill, and best traditions
of the ancient folk who had developed the civilization of Peru.
It is well to remember that the defenses of Cuzco were of little avail
before the onslaught of the warlike invaders. The great organization
of farmers and masons, so successful in its ability to perform
mighty feats of engineering with primitive tools of wood, stone,
and bronze, had crumbled away before the attacks of savage hordes
who knew little of the arts of peace. The defeated leaders had to
choose a region where they might live in safety from their fierce
enemies. Furthermore, in the environs of Machu Picchu they found
every variety of climate--valleys so low as to produce the precious
coca, yucca, and plantain, the fruits and vegetables of the tropics;
slopes high enough to be suitable for many varieties of maize,
quinoa, and other cereals, as well as their favorite root crops,
including both sweet and white potatoes, oca, añu, and ullucu. Here,
within a few hours' journey, they could find days warm enough to dry
and cure the coca leaves; nights cold enough to freeze potatoes in
the approved aboriginal fashion.
Although the amount of arable land which could be made available with
the most careful terracing was not large enough to support a very
great population, Machu Picchu offered an impregnable citadel to the
chiefs and priests and their handful of followers who were obliged
to flee from the rich plains near Cuzco and the broad, pleasant
valley of Yucay. Only dire necessity and terror could have forced a
people which had reached such a stage in engineering, architecture,
and agriculture, to leave hospitable valleys and tablelands for rugged
canyons. Certainly there is no part of the Andes less fitted by nature
to meet the requirements of an agricultural folk, unless their chief
need was a safe refuge and retreat.
Here the wise remnant of the Amautas ultimately developed great
ability. In the face of tremendous natural obstacles they utilized
their ancient craft to wrest a living from the soil. Hemmed in
between the savages of the Amazon jungles below and their enemies
on the plateau above, they must have carried on border warfare for
generations. Aided by the temperate climate in which they lived,
and the ability to secure a wide variety of food within a few hours'
climb up or down from their towns and cities, they became a hardy,
vigorous tribe which in the course of time burst its boundaries, fought
its way back to the rich Cuzco Valley, overthrew the descendants
of the ancient invaders and established, with Cuzco as a capital,
the Empire of the Incas.
After the first Inca, Manco Ccapac, had established himself in Cuzco,
what more natural than that he should have built a fine temple in
honor of his ancestors. Ancestor worship was common to the Incas,
and nothing would have been more reasonable than the construction
of the Temple of the Three Windows. As the Incas grew in power and
extended their rule over the ancient empire of the Cuzco Amautas from
whom they traced their descent, superstitious regard would have led
them to establish their chief temples and palaces in the city of Cuzco
itself. There was no longer any necessity to maintain the citadel of
Tampu-tocco. It was probably deserted, while Cuzco grew and the Inca
Empire flourished.
As the Incas increased in power they invented various myths to account
for their origin. One of these traced their ancestry to the islands of
Lake Titicaca. Finally the very location of Manco Ccapac's birthplace
was forgotten by the common people--although undoubtedly known to the
priests and those who preserved the most sacred secrets of the Incas.
Then came Pizarro and the bigoted conquistadores. The native chiefs
faced the necessity of saving whatever was possible of the ancient
religion. The Spaniards coveted gold and silver. The most precious
possessions of the Incas, however, were not images and utensils, but
the sacred Virgins of the Sun, who, like the Vestal Virgins of Rome,
were from their earliest childhood trained to the service of the great
Sun God. Looked at from the standpoint of an agricultural people who
needed the sun to bring their food crops to fruition and keep them from
hunger, it was of the utmost importance to placate him with sacrifices
and secure the good effects of his smiling face. If he delayed his
coming or kept himself hidden behind the clouds, the maize would mildew
and the ears would not properly ripen. If he did not shine with his
accustomed brightness after the harvest, the ears of corn could not be
properly dried and kept over to the next year. In short, any unusual
behavior on the part of the sun meant hunger and famine. Consequently
their most beautiful daughters were consecrated to his service, as
"Virgins" who lived in the temple and ministered to the wants of
priests and rulers. Human sacrifice had long since been given up in
Peru and its place taken by the consecration of these damsels. Some
of the Virgins of the Sun in Cuzco were captured. Others escaped and
accompanied Manco into the inaccessible canyons of Uilcapampa.
It will be remembered that Father Calancha relates the trials of the
first two missionaries in this region, who at the peril of their lives
urged the Inca to let them visit the "University of Idolatry," at
"Vilcabamba Viejo," "the largest city" in the province. Machu Picchu
admirably answers its requirements. Here it would have been very
easy for the Inca Titu Cusi to have kept the monks in the vicinity
of the Sacred City for three weeks without their catching a single
glimpse of its unique temples and remarkable palaces. It would have
been possible for Titu Cusi to bring Friar Marcos and Friar Diego
to the village of Intihuatana near San Miguel, at the foot of the
Machu Picchu cliffs. The sugar planters of the lower Urubamba Valley
crossed the bridge of San Miguel annually for twenty years in blissful
ignorance of what lay on top of the ridge above them. So the friars
might easily have been lodged in huts at the foot of the mountain
without their being aware of the extent and importance of the Inca
"university." Apparently they returned to Puquiura with so little
knowledge of the architectural character of "Vilcabamba Viejo" that
no description of it could be given their friends, eventually to
be reported by Calancha. Furthermore, the difficult journey across
country from Puquiura might easily have taken "three days."
Finally, it appears from Dr. Eaton's studies that the last residents
of Machu Picchu itself were mostly women. In the burial caves which
we have found in the region roundabout Machu Picchu the proportion
of skulls belonging to men is very large. There are many so-called
"trepanned" skulls. Some of them seem to belong to soldiers injured
in war by having their skulls crushed in, either with clubs or
the favorite sling-stones of the Incas. In no case have we found
more than twenty-five skulls without encountering some "trepanned"
specimens among them. In striking contrast is the result of the
excavations at Machu Picchu, where one hundred sixty-four skulls
were found in the burial caves, yet not one had been "trepanned." Of
the one hundred thirty-five skeletons whose sex could be accurately
determined by Dr. Eaton, one hundred nine were females. Furthermore,
it was in the graves of the females that the finest artifacts were
found, showing that they were persons of no little importance. Not
a single representative of the robust male of the warrior type was
found in the burial caves of Machu Picchu.
Another striking fact brought out by Dr. Eaton is that some of the
female skeletons represent individuals from the seacoast. This fits in
with Calancha's statement that Titu Cusi tempted the monks not only
with beautiful women of the highlands, but also with those who came
from the tribes of the Yungas, or "warm valleys." The "warm valleys"
may be those of the rubber country, but Sir Clements Markham thought
the oases of the coast were meant.
Furthermore, as Mr. Safford has pointed out, among the artifacts
discovered at Machu Picchu was a "snuffing tube" intended for use with
the narcotic snuff which was employed by the priests and necromancers
to induce a hypnotic state. This powder was made from the seeds of
the tree which the Incas called huilca or uilca, which, as has been
pointed out in Chapter XI, grows near these ruins. This seems to me
to furnish additional evidence of the identity of Machu Picchu with
Calancha's "Vilcabamba."
It cannot be denied that the ruins of Machu Picchu satisfy the
requirements of "the largest city, in which was the University of
Idolatry." Until some one can find the ruins of another important place
within three days' journey of Pucyura which was an important religious
center and whose skeletal remains are chiefly those of women, I am
inclined to believe that this was the "Vilcabamba Viejo" of Calancha,
just as Espiritu Pampa was the "Vilcabamba Viejo" of Ocampo.
In the interesting account of the last Incas purporting to be by Titu
Cusi, but actually written in excellent Spanish by Friar Marcos,
he says that his father, Manco, fleeing from Cuzco went first "to
Vilcabamba, the head of all that province."
In the "Anales del Peru" Montesinos says that Francisco Pizarro,
thinking that the Inca Manco wished to make peace with him, tried
to please the Inca by sending him a present of a very fine pony and
a mulatto to take care of it. In place of rewarding the messenger,
the Inca killed both man and beast. When Pizarro was informed of this,
he took revenge on Manco by cruelly abusing the Inca's favorite wife,
and putting her to death. She begged of her attendants that "when she
should be dead they would put her remains in a basket and let it float
down the Yucay [or Urubamba] River, that the current might take it
to her husband, the Inca." She must have believed that at that time
Manco was near this river. Machu Picchu is on its banks. Espiritu
Pampa is not.
We have already seen how Manco finally established himself at Uiticos,
where he restored in some degree the fortunes of his house. Surrounded
by fertile valleys, not too far removed from the great highway which
the Spaniards were obliged to use in passing from Lima to Cuzco, he
could readily attack them. At Machu Picchu he would not have been
so conveniently located for robbing the Spanish caravans nor for
supplying his followers with arable lands.
There is abundant archeological evidence that the citadel of Machu
Picchu was at one time occupied by the Incas and partly built by them
on the ruins of a far older city. Much of the pottery is unquestionably
of the so-called Cuzco style, used by the last Incas. The more recent
buildings resemble those structures on the island of Titicaca said to
have been built by the later Incas. They also resemble the fortress of
Uiticos, at Rosaspata, built by Manco about 1537. Furthermore, they
are by far the largest and finest ruins in the mountains of the old
province of Uilcapampa and represent the place which would naturally
be spoken of by Titu Cusi as the "head of the province." Espiritu
Pampa does not satisfy the demands of a place which was so important
as to give its name to the entire province, to be referred to as
"the largest city."
It seems quite possible that the inaccessible, forgotten citadel of
Machu Picchu was the place chosen by Manco as the safest refuge for
those Virgins of the Sun who had successfully escaped from Cuzco in
the days of Pizarro. For them and their attendants Manco probably
built many of the newer buildings and repaired some of the older
ones. Here they lived out their days, secure in the knowledge that
no Indians would ever breathe to the conquistadores the secret of
their sacred refuge.
------
FIGURE
The Gorges, Opening Wide Apart, Reveal Uilcapampa's Granite Citadel,
the Crown of Inca Land: Machu Picchu
------
When the worship of the sun actually ceased on the heights of Machu
Picchu no one can tell. That the secret of its existence was so well
kept is one of the marvels of Andean history. Unless one accepts the
theories of its identity with "Tampu-tocco" and "Vilcabamba Viejo,"
there is no clear reference to Machu Picchu until 1875, when Charles
Wiener heard about it.
Some day we may be able to find a reference in one of the documents
of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries which will indicate that
the energetic Viceroy Toledo, or a contemporary of his, knew of
this marvelous citadel and visited it. Writers like Cieza de Leon
and Polo de Ondegardo, who were assiduous in collecting information
about all the holy places of the Incas, give the names of many places
which as yet we have not been able to identify. Among them we may
finally recognize the temples of Machu Picchu. On the other hand,
it seems likely that if any of the Spanish soldiers, priests, or
other chroniclers had seen this citadel, they would have described
its chief edifices in unmistakable terms.
Until further light can be thrown on this fascinating problem it
seems reasonable to conclude that at Machu Picchu we have the ruins of
Tampu-tocco, the birthplace of the first Inca, Manco Ccapac, and also
the ruins of a sacred city of the last Incas. Surely this granite
citadel, which has made such a strong appeal to us on account of
its striking beauty and the indescribable charm of its surroundings,
appears to have had a most interesting history. Selected about 800
A.D. as the safest place of refuge for the last remnants of the
old régime fleeing from southern invaders, it became the site of the
capital of a new kingdom, and gave birth to the most remarkable family
which South America has ever seen. Abandoned, about 1300, when Cuzco
once more flashed into glory as the capital of the Peruvian Empire,
it seems to have been again sought out in time of trouble, when in
1534 another foreign invader arrived--this time from Europe--with a
burning desire to extinguish all vestiges of the ancient religion. In
its last state it became the home and refuge of the Virgins of the
Sun, priestesses of the most humane cult of aboriginal America. Here,
concealed in a canyon of remarkable grandeur, protected by art and
nature, these consecrated women gradually passed away, leaving no
known descendants, nor any records other than the masonry walls
and artifacts to be described in another volume. Whoever they were,
whatever name be finally assigned to this site by future historians,
of this I feel sure--that few romances can ever surpass that of the
granite citadel on top of the beetling precipices of Machu Picchu,
the crown of Inca Land.
Glossary
Añu: A species of nasturtium with edible roots.
Aryballus: A bottle-shaped vase with pointed bottom.
Azequia: An irrigation ditch or conduit.
Bar-hold: A stone cylinder or pin, let into a gatepost in such a way
as to permit the gate bar to be tied to it. Sometimes the bar-hold
is part of one of the ashlars of the gatepost. Bar-holds are usually
found in the gateway of a compound or group of Inca houses.
Coca: Shrub from which cocaine is extracted. The dried leaves are
chewed to secure the desired deadening effect of the drug.
Conquistadores: Spanish soldiers engaged in the conquest of America.
Eye-bonder: A narrow, rough ashlar in one end of which a chamfered
hole has been cut. Usually about 2 feet long, 6 inches wide, and 2
inches thick, it was bonded into the wall of a gable at right angles
to its slope and flush with its surface. To it the purlins of the roof
could be fastened. Eye-bonders are also found projecting above the
lintel of a gateway to a compound. If the "bar-holds" were intended
to secure the horizontal bar of an important gate, these eye-bonders
may have been for a vertical bar.
Gobernador: The Spanish-speaking town magistrate. The alcaldes are
his Indian aids.
Habas beans: Broad beans.
Huaca: A sacred or holy place or thing, sometimes a boulder. Often
applied to a piece of prehistoric pottery.
Mañana: To-morrow, or by and by. The "mañana habit" is Spanish-American
procrastination.
Mestizo: A half-breed of Spanish and Indian ancestry.
Milpa: A word used in Central America for a small farm or clearing. The
milpa system of agriculture involves clearing the forest by fire,
destroys valuable humus and forces the farmer to seek new fields
frequently.
Montaña: Jungle, forest. The term usually applied by Peruvians to
the heavily forested slopes of the Eastern Andean valleys and the
Amazon Basin.
Oca: Hardy, edible root, related to sheep sorrel.
Quebrada: A gorge or ravine.
Quipu: Knotted, parti-colored strings used by the ancient Peruvians
to keep records. A mnemonic device.
Roof-peg: A roughly cylindrical block of stone bonded into a gable
wall and allowed to project 12 or 15 inches on the outside. Used
in connection with "eye-bonders," the roof-pegs served as points to
which the roof could be tied down.
Sol: Peruvian silver dollar, worth about two shillings or a little
less than half a gold dollar.
Sorocho: Mountain-sickness.
Stone-peg: A roughly cylindrical block of stone bonded into the
walls of a house and projecting 10 or 12 inches on the inside so as
to permit of its being used as a clothes-peg. Stone-pegs are often
found alternating with niches and placed on a level with the lintels
of the niches.
Temblor: A slight earthquake.
Temporales: Small fields of grain which cannot be irrigated and so
depend on the weather for their moisture.
Teniente gobernador: Administrative officer of a small village
or hamlet.
Terremoto: A severe earthquake.
Tesoro: Treasure.
Tutu: A hardy variety of white potato not edible in a fresh state,
used for making chuño, after drying, freezing, and pressing out the
bitter juices.
Ulluca: An edible root.
Viejo: Old.
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(With G. K. Noble:)
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Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911, Orthoptera (Addenda to
the Acridiidae). Ibid., XLV, 585-586, 1913.
A. N. Caudell:
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Acridiidae). Proceedings of U.S. National Museum, XLIV, 347-357, 1913.
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Staircase Farms of the Ancients. National Geographic Magazine, XXIX,
474-534, May, 1916. Illus.
Foot-Plow Agriculture in Peru. Smithsonian Report for 1918,
487-491. 4 pl.
Domestication of Animals in Peru. Journal of Heredity, x, 176-181,
April, 1919. Illus.
(With Alice C. Cook:)
Polar Bear Cacti. Journal of Heredity, Washington, D.C., VIII, 113-120,
March, 1917. Illus.
William H. Dall:
Some Landshells Collected by Dr. Hiram Bingham in Peru. Proceedings
of U.S. National Museum, XXXVIII, 177-182, 1911. Illus.
Reports on Landshells Collected in Peru in 1911 by The Yale
Expedition. Smithsonian Misc. Collections, LIX, No. 14, 12 pp., 1912.
Harrison G. Dyar:
Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911. Lepidoptera. Proceedings
of U.S. National Museum, XLV, 627-649, 1913.
George F. Eaton:
Report on the Remains of Man and Lower Animals from the Vicinity of
Cuzco. American Journal of Science, XXXIII, No. 196, 325-333, April,
1912. Illus.
Vertebrate Remains in the Cuzco Gravels. Ibid., XXXVI, No. 211, 3-14,
July, 1913. Illus.
Vertebrate Fossils from Ayusbamba, Peru. Ibid., XXXVII, No. 218,
141-154, February, 1914. 3 pl.
The Collection of Osteological Material from Machu
Picchu. Trans. Conn. Academy Arts and Sciences, v, 3-96, May,
1916. Illus., 39 pl., map.
William G. Erving, M.D.:
Medical Report of the Yale Peruvian Expedition. Yale Medical Journal,
XVIII, 325-335, April, 1912. 6 pl.
Alexander W. Evans:
Hepaticæ: Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911. Trans. Conn. Academy Arts
and Sciences, XVIII, 291-345, April, 1914.
Harry B. Ferris, M.D.:
The Indians of Cuzco and the Apurimac. Memoirs, American
Anthropological Assoc., III, No. 2, 59-148, 1916. 60 pl.
Anthropological Studies on the Quichua and Machiganga
Indians. Trans. Conn. Academy Arts and Sciences, XXV, 1-92, April,
1921. 21 pl., map.
Harry W. Foote:
(With W. H. Buell:)
The Composition, Structure and Hardness of some Peruvian Bronze
Axes. American Journal of Science, XXXIV, 128-132, August, 1912. Illus.
Herbert E. Gregory:
The Gravels at Cuzco. American Journal of Science, XXXVI, No. 211,
15-29, July, 1913. Illus., map.
The La Paz Gorge. Ibid., XXXVI, 141-150, August, 1913. Illus.
A Geographical Sketch of Titicaca, the Island of the Sun. Bulletin of
American Geographical Society, XLV, 561-575, August, 1913. 4 pl., map.
Geologic Sketch of Titicaca Island and Adjoining Areas. American
Journal of Science, XXXVI, No. 213, 187-213, September, 1913. Illus.,
maps.
Geologic Reconnaissance of the Ayusbamba Fossil Beds. Ibid., XXXVII,
No. 218, 125-140, February, 1914. Illus., map.
The Rodadero; A Fault Plane of Unusual Aspect. Ibid., XXXVII, No. 220,
289-298, April, 1914. Illus.
A Geologic Reconnaissance of the Cuzco Valley. Ibid., XLI, No. 241,
1-100, January, 1916. Illus., maps.
Osgood Hardy:
Cuzco and Apurimac. Bulletin of American Geographical Society, XLVI,
No. 7, 500-512, 1914. Illus., map.
The Indians of the Department of Cuzco. American Anthropologist, XXI,
1-27, January-March, 1919. 9 pl.
Sir Clements Markham:
Mr. Bingham in Vilcapampa, Geographical Journal, XXXVIII, No. 6,
590-591, Dec. 1911, 1 pl.
C. H. Mathewson:
A Metallographic Description of Some Ancient Peruvian Bronzes from
Machu Picchu. American Journal of Science, XL, No. 240, 525-602,
December, 1915. Illus., plates.
P. R. Myers:
Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911--Addendum to the
Hymenoptera-Ichneumonoidea. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum,
XLVII, 361-362, 1914.
S. A. Rohwer:
Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911--Hymenoptera, Superfamilies
Vespoidea and Sphecoidea. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum, XLIV,
439-454, 1913.
Leonhard Stejneger:
Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911. Batrachians and
Reptiles. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum, XLV, 541-547, 1913.
Oldfield Thomas:
Report on the Mammalia Collected by Mr. Edmund Heller during Peruvian
Expedition of 1915. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum, LVIII,
217-249, 1920. 2 pl.
H. L. Viereck:
Results of Yale Peruvian Expedition of
1911. Hymenoptera-Ichneumonoidea. Proceedings of U.S. National Museum,
XLIV, 469-470, 1913.
R. S. Williams:
Peruvian Mosses. Bulletin of Torrey Botanical Club, XLIII, 323-334,
June, 1916. 4 pl.
NOTES
[1] Many people have asked me how to pronounce Machu Picchu. Quichua
words should always be pronounced as nearly as possible as they are
written. They represent an attempt at phonetic spelling. If the attempt
is made by a Spanish writer, he is always likely to put a silent
"h" at the beginning of such words as huilca which is pronounced
"weel-ka." In the middle of a word "h" is always sounded. Machu
Picchu is pronounced "Mah'-chew Pick'-chew." Uiticos is pronounced
"Weet'-ee-kos." Uilcapampa is pronounced "Weel'-ka-pahm-pah." Cuzco is
"Koos'-koh."
[2] A league, usually about 3 1/3 miles, is really the distance an
average mule can walk in an hour.
[3] Fernando Montesinos, an ecclesiastical lawyer of the seventeenth
century, appears to have gone to Peru in 1629 as the follower of
that well-known viceroy, the Count of Chinchon, whose wife having
contracted malaria was cured by the use of Peruvian bark or quinine
and was instrumental in the introduction of this medicine into
Europe, a fact which has been commemorated in the botanical name
of the genus cinchona. Montesinos was well educated and appears to
have given himself over entirely to historical research. He traveled
extensively in Peru and wrote several books. His history of the Incas
was spoiled by the introduction, in which, as might have been expected
of an orthodox lawyer, he contended that Peru was peopled under the
leadership of Ophir, the great-grandson of Noah! Nevertheless, one
finds his work to be of great value and the late Sir Clements Markham,
foremost of English students of Peruvian archeology, was inclined
to place considerable credence in his statements. His account of
pre-Hispanic Peru has recently been edited for the Hakluyt Society
by Mr. Philip A. Means of Harvard University.
[4] Another version of this event is that the quarrel was over a game
of chess between the Inca and Diego Mendez, another of the refugees,
who lost his temper and called the Inca a dog. Angered at the tone and
language of his guest, the Inca gave him a blow with his fist. Diego
Mendez thereupon drew a dagger and killed him. A totally different
account from the one obtained by Garcilasso from his informants is
that in a volume purporting to have been dictated to Friar Marcos by
Manco's son, Titu Cusi, twenty years after the event. I quote from
Sir Clements Markham's translation:
"After these Spaniards had been with my Father for several years in
the said town of Viticos they were one day, with much good fellowship,
playing at quoits with him; only them, my Father and me, who was then a
boy [ten years old]. Without having any suspicion, although an Indian
woman, named Banba, had said that the Spaniards wanted to murder the
Inca, my Father was playing with them as usual. In this game, just as
my Father was raising the quoit to throw, they all rushed upon him with
knives, daggers and some swords. My Father, feeling himself wounded,
strove to make some defence, but he was one and unarmed, and they were
seven fully armed; he fell to the ground covered with wounds, and they
left him for dead. I, being a little boy, and seeing my Father treated
in this manner, wanted to go where he was to help him. But they turned
furiously upon me, and hurled a lance which only just failed to kill
me also. I was terrified and fled amongst some bushes. They looked
for me, but could not find me. The Spaniards, seeing that my Father
had ceased to breathe, went out of the gate, in high spirits, saying,
'Now that we have killed the Inca we have nothing to fear.' But at
this moment the captain Rimachi Yupanqui arrived with some Antis,
and presently chased them in such sort that, before they could get
very far along a difficult road, they were caught and pulled from
their horses. They all had to suffer very cruel deaths and some were
burnt. Notwithstanding his wounds my Father lived for three days."
Another version is given by Montesinos in his Anales. It is more like
Titu Cusi's.
[5] A Spanish derivative from the Quichua mucha, "a kiss." Muchani
means "to adore, to reverence, to kiss the hands."
[6] Uiticos is probably derived from Uiticuni, meaning "to withdraw
to a distance."
[7] Described in "Across South America."
[8] On the 1915 Expedition Mr. Heller captured twelve new species
of mammals, but, as Mr. Oldfield Thomas says: "Of all the novelties,
by far the most interesting is the new Marsupial .... Members of the
family were previously known from Colombia and Ecuador." Mr. Heller's
discovery greatly extends the recent range of the kangaroo family.
[9] Mr. Safford says in his article on the "Identity of Cohoba"
(Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Sept. 19, 1916):
"The most remarkable fact connected with Piptadenia peregrina, or
'tree-tobacco' is that ... the source of its intoxicating properties
still remains unknown." One of the bifurcated tubes."in the first
stages of manufacture," was found at Machu Picchu.
[10] See the illustrations in Chapters XVII and XVIII.
[11] Since the historical Uilcapampa is not geographically identical
with the modern Vilcabamba, the name applied to this river and the old
Spanish town at its source, I shall distinguish between the two by
using the correct, official spelling for the river and town, viz.,
Vilcabamba; and the phonetic spelling, Uilcapampa, for the place
referred to in the contemporary histories of the Inca Manco.
[12] In those days the term "Andes" appears to have been very limited
in scope, and was applied only to the high range north of Cuzco where
lived the tribe called Antis. Their name was given to the range. Its
culminating point was Mt. Salcantay.
[13] Titu Cusi was an illegitimate son of Manco. His mother was not
of royal blood and may have been a native of the warm valleys.