70 / 1060
'·
Royal
Commentarier.
BooK
III.
no man can conjeeture,
Vnlef.r
it
W~l'ejik!
the Pyramids
in Egypt,
to remain for a Tro–
phy
of
the Greatnefa
of
that Monarch who erected
it.
On
one fide of
this
mighty
heap
are ihe Statues.. of two Giants cut in Stone, with long Robes to the ground and
Wreaths or Binders about their heads; which being much impaired by
'time
!hews the Antiquity of
th~m. T~ere
is
alfo
a
firat?ge
V\l
all
to .be feen,
raifed
with
Stones of
an
extraordmary b1gnefs; and what
IS
moft wonde
ull
to
confi~
der, is, ho'-', or
in
what manner they were brought thither by
force o
Men
who
had not yet attained to the knowledge of Engines fit for fuch a work, and from
what place they were brought, there being no Rocks or Qiarries but fuch as
are
at a
far
dillance from thence. There appear alfo many great and lofty
Edifices~
and
what is more firange, there are in divers places great Portals of Stone
and
many of them whole and perfett, made of one fingle and entire Stone;
~hich
being raifed on Pedefl:als, are found
by
thofe who have meafured them to
be
30
foot in length, and
1
5
in
breadth, which Pedeftals, as well as the Arches of the
Portals, were
all
of one fingle Stone: And then we may confider how
great
thofe
Stones were before they were iliaped, and
)Vhat
tools
of
Iroh were requifite
for
fuch
a
labour.
The
atives report that thefe Buildings, and others of the like nature not
men–
tioned here, were raifed before the times of the
IncM,
and that the Model of the
Fortrefs at
Coz..co
"''as taken from them, as
VI\
e iliall hereafter more particularly de–
fcribe : Who they were that ereeted chem, they do not know,
onely
they have
heard fay by tradition from their Ancefiours, that thofe prodigious Works were
the effects of one nighcs labour ; which feenr, in reality, to nave been the be–
ginnings
onely, and foundations for fome mighty Strulture. Thus much
Pedro
de
Ciefa
in his Remarks concerning
Pen1,
and its feveral Provinces relates ;
ta
which
I {hall farther add, what a certain Priefr called
Diego de
Alcuhafa,
who was
my
School-fellow ; and whom I may call my Brother, 15ecaufe
we~
ere both born
in
the fame houfe, and his Father educated me as my Tutour and Mafier : This per–
fon, I fay, amongfl: the many relations of things which both he and others fent
me, concerning my own Countrey ; coming to fpeak of the Buildings of
Tiah11a–
nacu,
hath there words :
"'
In
Tiahnanacu,
which is a Province of
Col!Ro,
amongfi
'c
many other Antiquities
~
orthy of immorral memory, there
is
one particularly
'' famous, adjoining to the Lake, which is called
by
the
Spaniards Chucuyt11,
though
" its true name be
Chuquivitu;
this is a Pile of Monfirous Buildings, to which
c~
is an open Court of
1
5
¥ards fquare every way, the Building is two Stories
" high
j
and on one fide of this great Yard or Square
is
a large Hall of
4>
fooe
cc
in
length, and
1.1.
in breadth; the Covering appears to be ThatGh, like thofe
" on the Temple of the Sun, in the City of
Co:uJJ:
All chi Court, or Yard,
" which we mention, with
its
Walls, Floor, Hall, Roof, Portals agd Jams of
cc
the doo s, and back-gate to this Building, is all of one entire Stone, hewed out
" of a Rock ; the Walls of the Court, and of the Hall, are three quarters of a
" Yard thick, and fuch alfo is the Covef"it1g or Roof; which though it may feem
'' to be Thatched with Straw, is yet o'f Stone; for the
Indians
have worked it
fo
" artificially, and with thofe naturJl lines, that the Stones appear like Straw laid
" in the mofl: curious manner of Thatch
:
the Warers of the Lake beat againfr the
' fide of thefeWalls ; and both this, and all the other Edifices here about, were all,
'' as the Native
report, dedicated
to
the Maker of the Univerfe. Moreover,
"' befides there Work , there are divers other figures of Men and VVomen cut
in
"
tone,
fo
naturally, chat they feem to be living: Some of them are drinking
cc
\iv·ith Cups in their hands, fome are fining, fome fianding,
fame
are walking in
'' the fiream
hich glides by the Walls; other Statues there are of Women
car–
cc
rying
hildren in their armes, and in the folds of their garments
~
others
with
" them on their backs, and in a thoufand other manners and pofiures. The
Indi–
''
am
of thefe days report, that for the great Sins of that people, in having fioned
" a
tranger,
'~ho pa~d
through their Province, God in hls judgment l-iad con·
"
erted thore
Iv1en
and Women inro Stone. Thefe are the words of
Diego
de
A!–
cobRf tti
\
ho hath been
icar-Ge!leral of many Provinces
in
that Kingdom, and
reacher
f
the
Indians
;
for bemg a
ative of
Couo,
and of
Spanijh
and
Indian
Bloud, and confequently acquainted\'\ ith the
IndiRn
Language, was mofi able ro
in–
form and infiruCl: that people ; and in all probability, he
~as
the moft
likely
Man
to deliver the mofi true and authentick Relation of thofe Countries.
- CH AP.