Page images
PDF
EPUB

above a league in extent. His remark, that fortresses of this kind are so numerous that one scarce meets with a mountain without them, is justified, in a great measure, by the observations of more recent travellers.*

Near the village of Banos, in Huamalies, are the ruins of a large building, somewhat similar to those of Cannar and Callo, and of a circular temple; and on the tops of two mountains, one situated on each side of the river, are the remains of two fortresses. In the construction of these fortifications, the sides of the mountains have been divided into galleries ranged one above another, in some parts formed by artificial breastworks, and in others cut out of the solid rock, the breast work being left in solid stone.†

Near the road from Potosi to Tacua, upon an eminence, are the remains of an ancient city. On one side it was protected by a deep ravine, and it was surrounded by a rampart of stonework. The walls have openings or embrasures, and the stones are "dovetailed together in a very singular manner. In the centre of the place was a citadel, reserved as a last retreat from hostile attack."I

In the vicinity of Guambacho are the remains of an extensive line of fortifications; the wall runs along the side of a lofty mountain, close to the sea, is entire in many parts, and appears to have been built with rude bastions.§

Near Patavilca, and about one hundred and twenty miles

* Ulloa, vol. i. p. 504. Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 342, etc.

† Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 259. Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 100, 101. Andrews' Travels in S. Am., vol. ii. p. 161.

§ Stevenson, vol. i. pp. 312.

from Lima, is a place called Paramonga, or The Fortalesa. "The ruins of a fortified palace of very great extent are here visible; the walls are of tempered clay, and about six feet thick. The principal building stood upon an eminence, but the walls were continued to the foot of it like regular circumvallations; the ascent winded round the hill, leaving many angles, which probably served as outworks to defend the place. It is supposed to have belonged to the Chimu or King of Mansichi, and was a frontier palace during the time of the Incas." Not far from the Fortalesa are the ruins of an extensive town.* The valley of Guarmey contains the ruins of an ancient fortress, and also a structure similar in design to the wall of Tlascala, in Mexico. The valley, it is said, is crossed by the vestiges of a wall, which is supposed to have been built by the Grand Chimu in his last war with the Incas.† Similar military works have been discovered in many other places in Peru; and also in Chile, where, amongst others, the remains of an ancient fortress are to be observed near the river Cuchapoal.§

Sculpture. The dexterity of these people in cutting stone, and other hard substances, excites our amazement.|| Humboldt

Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 22, 23.

* Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 27. In the plain on which the city of Truxillo is situated, called del Chimu, are the remains of what is supposed to have been the ancient residence of the Chimu. They appear like the foundations of a large city, or the walls of a garden crossing each other at right angles.-Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 121. Ruschenberger, p. 381.

† Ruschenberger, p. 361.

§ Molina, vol. ii. pp. 10, 68.

Frezier, p. 262.

The Jesuit's College at Quito, a beautiful piece of architecture and sculptured workmanship, was constructed by the Indians, under the direction of Father Sanches, a native of Quito.

In

brought from South America a ring of obsidian, which had been a girl's bracelet, and was in the form of a very delicate, hollow, perforated cylinder: "we can scarcely conceive,” he remarks, "how a vitreous and fragile substance could be reduced to the state of so thin a plate." At Patavilca we find sculptures in porphyry, basalt and other hard stones, and everywhere through Peru, similar evidences of the ancient skill, in cutting the hardest of rocks, abound.† The axes of basalt, the marble vases and the sculptured rocks in Chile; and the engraved Calendar Stone, and the head found by Humboldt amongst the Muyscas, indicate that these signs of civilization are not confined within the boundaries of the Peruvian empire. The distinguished traveller just mentioned, from the observation of the great perfection of these sculptures, was induced to believe, that tools of copper had been used in their formation; and he adds, that this conjecture has been justified, by the discovery of an ancient Peruvian chisel, found at Villacamba, near Cuzco, in a silver mine worked in the time of the Incas, consisting of ninety-four parts of copper and six of tin. Some of the arti

Chile "in the plains and upon most of the mountains," says Molina, "are to be seen a great number of flat circular stones, of five or six inches in diameter, with a hole through the middle. These stones which are either granite or porphyry have doubtless received this form by artificial means, and I am induced to believe that they were the clubs or maces of the ancient Chilians, and that the holes were perforated to receive the handles.”—Molina, vol. i. p. 56.

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 257. Frezier, p. 135. Molina, vol. ii. p. 25.

vol. ii. p. 205.

+ Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 260.

Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 23. Humboldt's Researches,

cles found in the mounds are also composed of hardened copper; and Dr. Meyen, in speaking of the collection of antiquities in the Museum at Lima, says, "the ancient weapons are of copper, and some are of exquisite manufacture."

Traces of the art of cutting and working in stone are not confined, even, to the extensive region just indicated. In the province of Cujo, in Chile, between the cities of Mendoza and La Punta, upon a low range of hills, on a large stone pillar, called "The Giant," certain marks or inscriptions have been observed; and near the Diamond river, upon another stone, besides some ciphers, or characters, are the figures of several animals, and “the impressions" of human feet.* Passing far to the north, on the banks of the Orinoco and in various parts of Guiana, there are rude figures traced upon granite and other hard stones, some of them, like those in the United States, cut at an immense height upon the face of perpendicular rocks. They represent the sun and moon, tigers, crocodiles, and snakes, and occasionally they appear to be hieroglyphical figures and regular characters.†

It is unnecessary, after having thus examined the testimony of numerous travellers, to enter into any labored argument for the confutation of the observation of Robertson, who concludes a brief description of the state of society in Peru by saying, "in all the dominions of the Incas, Cuzco was the only place that had the appearance, or was entitled to the name, of a city;" for the extent of some of these ruins, and the traces of the great skill and patient labor, with which the most barren soils were cultivated and rendered fertile and productive, prove

Molina, vol. i. p. 270.

† Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. v. pp. 593, 595. Vol. 4. P. 499.

beyond contradiction the existence of an ancient agricultural population, and their association in large communities and cities. Nor are these evidences of civilization confined to the isolated instances which have been cited; "up even to the very tops of the mountains, that line the valleys through which I have passed," remarks Mr. Temple, "I observed many ancient ruins, attesting a former population, where now all is desolate."* "In proceeding on our journey from Guarmey," says Ulloa,

66

we met with a great many remains of the edifices of the Incas. Some were the walls of palaces, others, as it were, large dikes by the sides of spacious highways, and others fortresses or castles, properly situated for checking the inroads of enemies." Humboldt states, that these ruins are scattered along the ridges of the Cordilleras, from the thirteenth degree of south latitude, to the equator, and that he counted nine of them, between the Paramo of Chulucanas, and Guancabamba.I

But in examining the line of civilization, as indicated at present by these ancient remains, which is found to commence on the plains of Varinas, and to extend thence to the ruins of the stone edifices, which were observed about the middle of the last century, on the road over the Andes, in the province of Cujo, in Chile; or to the road described by the Jesuit Imonsff; or to the ancient aqueducts upon the banks of the river Maypocho, in south latitude thirty-three degrees sixteen minutes; we are surprised to discover a continuous, unbroken chain of these relics of aboriginal civilization. Reverting to the epoch

* Travels in Peru, vol. ii. p. 43.

† Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 27. Ibid. vol. i. p. 503.

Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 255. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 198.

« PreviousContinue »