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BooK
VI. ·
Roy,al
Com~eniariei.
CH A P.
IV. ·
O/ the g'reat Halls, and Rooms
o[
State;
and
other
things
helonging to the Court.
I
N
q1any
of the King's Palaces were lon_g and f¡,átious Galleries, of abóut cwo
hundred paces
in
length, and aboue
fifty
or
fixty
in
breadth, whereir:i they
often dan<red and celebraeed. their Feafis ae thofe feafons of the year, when the
Rains
and bad weather incommoded themin che open
Air. ·
I
r:emerhber' thae
in
Cozco
I
faw four of thefe.Galleries, which when
I
was a Child, were fiill in be•.
ing, and not ruined : One ofthem was in
Amar11cancha
Streec, where
Hernando
Pi~
perro
then liv~d, and is now che_ Jefuits College~The other ~as
in
Caj{ana
Street,.
but now bulle and converted mto Shops, che Rene of wh1ch belonged to my \
School-fellow
rohn
de
Cilwrico:
Anocher wa~ in
Collcampata
Alley, where'che
Inca
Paullu,
and bis Són
Don
C11r/01,
who alfo was my School-fellow, had a Rene in
Houfes : This Gallery was che leafi: of all the four, and the biggeft
Wás
thae of
Caj[ana,
being capable to receive three thoufand perfons.
It is wonderfull
to
confider, where it
was
poffible for them to find Timbers fo long and fquare, as
were
fit
for the Roofs of fuch Edifices. The fourth Gallery -is now turned into
fhe Cathedral Church.
1
ÜQe thing
is
remarkable, thae che
.lndians
of
Peru
in
building their Houfes, did never raife one Story above another, nor did they jo1n
one Room to another, bue always lefc fome ·fpace pr dillance of one Chárnber
from che other, and perhaps a whole Court-Yard, or Q!Iadrangle, becween, un–
lefs fometimes to their large Halls they built ac che comerstfome Clofets,'or with–
d~awing Rooms, for better convenience ; and in che Divifions chey made of their
feveral Offi.ces, chey raifed Walls of Apartment to keel) thel\l privare one from
the other.
le is farther alío obfervable, chae when they had built che four Walls
of
Stone or Brkk for a Houfe or Chamber; they ereél:ed Pillars, or Pofis, in the
middle of ir, for fupport .of che Roóf; for they kneV'w'. not how to crofs their '
Beams,
or Rafcers, or how to fafien them with Nails, or
W
ooden Pins, bue
laid
theirTimbers loofe upon cheWalls, fafi:ning them onely to each other with Sparr,
or Cords .made ofScraw, or Ruíhes, as firong as onr Hempen Ropes. Thefe·
main Beams chey croffed with Rafters , faíl:ning them one to che other ;
ori·,
which they laid a covering of Straw fo thick, that the Thatch was
a
Yard deep,
excending
its
Eves above a Yard over cheWalls,
fo
as to be a Pénd-houfe to them.
·ro
preferve them from che Rain.
I
remember that
in
the Vally of
fHcl!J
I
once
faw one of chefe large Rooms, which was about feventy.Foot fquaré; covered
in
form of a Pyramid; che Spire of which was cwelve Rod high; though che Walls
were not above three, having cwo little Chambers on each fide, This Building
was not burnt by the_
Jndians,
-when they made their general lnfürreél:ion againft
the
Spaniard,
;._
for thoug~ they defi:royed many other Houf~s of pleafure in rhac
Vally, the Rwnes of which
I
have feen ; yet they [pared chis Struél:ure out ofre–
fped: to their
Incas
who had frequented thls place, being a Iarge and open Square;
or Qu_adrangle, which ferved for a wide and fpatious Theatre whereon to repre–
fent meir íbows and fports ac che times of their principal Fefüvals. ·
Befides che Walls of Stone, they made alfo Walls of Clay, -·which they for–
med
in
Cafes or Moulds, for chat purpofe, mixing che ~ith Straw for bet-
, ter binding. The Moulds they made as little, or as large as they pleafed in mea~
fure, or proportion to che Wall; che íhorteft were aboue a Yard long, -and abouc
.
che fixtli pare of
a
Y
ard broa~, and of a like thicknefs ; which; after they ha4
well dried in che Sun, they laid them one upon another
in
order ; and afier thalí·
chey had lain two or three Years under coveriog from the Sun, and the Water,
fo that they were fully dried ; they then ufed them in their Buildings, as we
do ·
. our Bricks, cementiog them.with the fame Clay, well tempered, and
mixed
with
Straw.
They_