Note 277 — Chapter XLI

These are the ruins called Callo, near Latacunga (Llacta-cunga). In Ulloa’s time they served as a house for the Augustine monks at Quito. As Humboldt says that Ulloa’s description of Callo is very inaccurate, it will be preferable to refer to the account given of the ruins by the great Prussian traveller.

The Yncas Tupas Yupanqui and Huayna Ccapac, when they had completed the conquest of Quito, caused magnificent roads to be formed, and tampus (inns), storehouses, and magazines to be built for the reception of the sovereign and his armies. Travellers have called the ruins of these buildings palaces. The most celebrated of these ruins are those near Latacunga, ten leagues south of Quito, and three leagues from the volcano of Cotopaxi. The edifice forms a square, each side of which is thirty-five yards long. Four great outer doors are still distinguishable, and eight apartments, three of which are in good preservation. The walls are nearly five yards and a half high, and a yard thick. The doors are similar to those in the Egyptian temples, and there are eighteen niches in each apartment, distributed with the greatest symmetry. Humboldt’s Researches.