311 / 1060
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·--
,
BooK
Vlt
_Roya~
_
Commentarief.
..
" of great multitudes required from all Provinces, for the forwarding of thefe
" Works· the labour was certainly great, and the fa{hion admirable and unufual,
cc
for
they ufed
nb
Mortar, nor had they Iron
or
Steel to
cut
·and poliili the
cc
Stones nor Inll:ruments or Engines to
ca1Ty
and
raife
them, and
yet
they were
" fo
curi~ufiy
joined and fitted; that the places where they joined were fcarce dif-.
<'
cernible; and yet the Stones were of that vafr bignefs, as
is
incredible, unlefS
it
cc
be
to
thofe who have feen them.
In
Tiaguanaco
I
meafured one
my
felf,
which
<'
was
thirty
foot in l€ngth, and eighteen
in
breadth, and fix foot in thickne£S.
cc
In
the
Wall of
the Forcrefs built
at
Couo
there are Stones of
a far
greater
big–
«
n'efs, which were laid by hand, and what is mofi admirable, is, that they were
cc
never
cut by
any Rule,
being
rough cafi, and without
equal
proportion, and
" yet
are fitted and joined one within the other without any Mortar or Cement,
cc
all which muft be done by force of
M~n
, and great toil aod labour ; for cer–
" rainly
to
fit
one Srone to the other, which were at firll:
un~qual,
there mull be
~
ofcen
removes, which could not
be performed
~afily
but
by
force and firength
· " of
the
Armes. All which are the Words
06
Acofta,
egtraeted
verbatim,
whereby
be
maoifefis
the difficulty of
that
labour co Men who
had
not the ufe of thofe
In–
ftruments and Engines which are common amongft us.
Perhaps the
IncM
in
the heig
of their Glory were defirous
to
recomrnenp the
greacnefs of
their power
to
the admiration
of all
Ages~
as
al(O
to iliew the
Art
and
in~enuity
of their Mafier·huilders, not onely in polHhing their freezed
S~one,
(which
the
Spania.rds
do much admire) but alfo in
laying
their ·rough Stones, (cal–
led
by the
Italians a
la
ruftica)
in
which they did as much excell as in the former;
and
herein they did not onely !hew themfelves Artill:s, but Souldiers alfo in the
-
contrivances of their Fortreffes, which they built in every advantageous
Pafs
and
place, where fuch a Bulwark
might
be of aefence or bar againfi the Incurfions of
an
Ene~y.
.
This Cafile or FortrefS they eretl:ed on the top of a high Hill
on
the North–
fide
of
the
City,
called
Sacfahuamam,,
at
the
foot of which are theDwelling-houf es
of
Couo,
which extend themfelv€S at a great dillance on all quarcers, the fide of
this Hill which
is
towards the
City,
is exaltly perpoodicular
fo
that
it
is
impreg.–
nable, apd cannot be fiorrned on that part, nor can
it
be battered
with
Cannon,
by any
level, or upper ground which commands
it;
though the
Jndian1
befqre the
corning of the
Spaniards,
had no thoughts or imagination of Cannon, nor provided
any orher defence than a thick Wall ofScone, curiouQy polifhed on all quarters
being
about two hundred fathom
in
compafs; every row of Stones was ofa
diffe~
rent
height,
and yet laid exaCl:ly by the line, and fo well fitted and enchafed one
within
the
other, that
they
needed no Lime,
or
other Mortar to cement them.
The
trudl
is,
they ufed no Mortar mixed with Sand, becaufe
they
knew not how
to burn Lime; howfoever they had a kind of a red Earth, of a birurninous mat–
ter,
which was very binding, and fuch as ferved to
fill
up holes and nicks
in
the
Building. And
in
this
firft
row
they !hewed both indufiry and
Art,
for theWaU
was truck,
and the
W
orkmaniliip rare on
all
fides.
I
I