Note 522 — Chapter CXIII

The best known hot medicinal springs in Peru are those near Caxamarca (129.7° Fahr.), those at Laris, in the mountains overhanging the valley of the Vilcamayu, and those at Yura, near Arequipa.

Great attention was paid by the Yncas to the formation of their baths, called armana in Quichua. The springs (puquio), or hot springs (ccoñic puquio), were carefully paved with a mixture of small stones and a species of bitumen, and over them was arranged the figure of an animal, bird, or serpent in marble, basalt, or even gold or silver, which threw water from the mouth, either perpendicularly into the air, when the jet was called huraca, or horizontally, when it was called paccha. The flowing water was conducted through a pipe of metal or stone into jars of sculptured stone. The baths had small dressing-rooms attached, which were ornamented with statues in stone and metal. Antiguedades Peruanas, p. 238.