Note 1201 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The truth of this use of gold by the Incas does not depend on the glowing descriptions of Garcilasso de la Vega. A golden breastplate and topu, a golden leaf with a long stalk, four specimens of golden fruit, and a girdle of gold were found near Cuzco in 1852, and sent to the late General Echenique, then President of Peru. The present writer had an opportunity of inspecting and making careful copies of them. His drawings of the breastplate and topu were lithographed for Bollaert’s Antiquarian Researches in Peru, p. 146. The breastplate was 5-3/10 inches in diameter, and had four narrow slits for suspending it round the neck. The golden leaf was 12-7/10 inches long, including the stem; breadth of the base of the leaf, 3-1/10 inches. The models of fruit were 3 inches in diameter, and the girdle 18¼ inches long.