Note 449 — Chapter XCII

“The grandeur of the fortress of Cuzco,” says Garcilasso de la Vega, “is incredible to those who have not seen it, and those who have examined it carefully might well imagine, and even believe, that it was made by some enchantment, and by demons rather than men. The multitude and bigness of the stones in the three lines of fortification (which are more like rocks than stones) cause admiration, and it is wonderful how the Indians could have cut them out of the quarries whence they were brought, for they have neither iron nor steel. How they conveyed them to the building is a still greater difficulty, for they had no bullocks, nor did they know how to make carts which could bear the weight of the stones; so they dragged them with stout ropes by the force of their arms. The roads by which they had to come were not level, but led over very rugged mountains, up and down which the stones were dragged by sheer force. Many of the stones were brought from distances of ten, twelve, and fifteen leagues, particularly the stone, or, to speak more correctly, the rock which the Indians call saycusca (as much as to say ‘tired’), for it never reached the building. It was brought from a distance of fifteen leagues, across the river of Yucay, which is little smaller than the Guadalquivir at Cordova. The nearest quarry was at Muyna, five leagues from Cuzco. But it is still more wonderful to think how they fitted such great stones so closely that the point of a knife will scarcely go between them. Many are so well adjusted that the joining can scarcely be seen, and to attain such nicety it must have been necessary to raise them to their places and lower them very many times; for the Indians had no square, nor had they any rule by which they could know that one stone fitted justly on another. They had no knowledge of cranes nor of pulleys, nor of any machine which would assist them in raising and lowering the stones.” ... Acosta (lib. vi, cap. 14, p. 421, ed. 1608) makes similar remarks on the size of the stones and on the difficulty of raising them. Garcilasso continues: “They built the fortress on a high hill to the north of the city, called Sacsahuaman. This hill rises above the city almost perpendicularly, so that on that side the fortress is safe from an enemy, whether formed in squadron or in any other way. Owing to its natural advantages this side was only fortified with a stout wall, more than two hundred fathoms long. But on the other side there is a wide plain approaching the hill by a gentle incline, so that an enemy might march up in squadrons. Here they made three walls, one in front of the other, each wall being more than two hundred fathoms long. They are in the form of a half moon, and unite with the wall facing the city. The first wall contains the largest stones. I hold that they were not taken from any quarry, because they bear no marks of having been worked, but that they were huge boulders (tormos) or loose rocks which were found on the hills, adapted for building. Nearly in the centre of each line of wall there was a doorway, each with a stone of the same height and breadth, which closed it. The first of these doorways was called Ttiu-puncu (Sand gate); the second, Acahuana-puncu, so called after the chief architect; and the third, Huira-ccocha-puncu. There is a space of twenty-five or thirty feet between the walls, which is made level, so that the summit of one wall is on a line with the foot of the next. Each wall had its parapet or breastwork, behind which the defenders could fight with more security. Above these lines of defence there is a long narrow platform, on which were three strong towers. The principal one was in the centre, and was called Moyoc-marca or ‘the round tower.’ In it there was a fountain of excellent water, brought from a distance underground, the Indians know not whence. The kings lodged in this tower when they went up to the fortress for amusement, and all the walls were adorned with gold and silver, and animals, birds, and plants imitated from nature, which served as tapestry. The second tower was called Paucar-marca, and the third, Sacllac-marca. They were both square, and they contained lodgings for many soldiers. The foundations were as deep as the towers were high, and the vaults passed from one to the other. These vaults were cunningly made, with so many lanes and streets that they crossed each other with their turns and doublings.” Garcilasso complains that the Spaniards, instead of preserving this wonderful monument, have taken away many stones, from the vaults and towers, with which to build their new houses in Cuzco; but they left the three great walls, because the stones were so enormous that they could not move them. He adds that the fortress took fifty years in building.

The ruins of the fortress of Cuzco are the most interesting in Peru, and I made a very minute examination of them in 1853. On the side of the hill immediately above the city there are three stone terraces. The first wall, 14 feet high, extends in a semicircular form round this end of the hill, for 180 paces. Between the first and second walls there is a level space 8 paces broad. Above the third wall there are many carefully hewn stones lying about, some of them supporting three lofty wooden crosses. Here, probably, were the three towers mentioned by Garcilasso, now totally destroyed. The view from this point is extensive and beautiful. The city of Cuzco is spread out like a map below, with its handsome church towers and domes rising above the other buildings. The great square is seen, crowded with Indian girls sitting under shades before their merchandise, or passing to and fro like a busy hive of bees. Beyond is the long plain, and far in the distance, rising above the lower ranges of mountains, towers Asungato, with its snowy peak standing out in strong relief against the cloudless sky.

The length of the platform or table land on the summit of the Sacsahuaman hill is 525 paces, and its breadth, in the broadest part, 130 paces. Many deep excavations have been made in all parts of it, in search of hidden treasure. On the south side the position was so strong that it needed no artificial defence, being bounded by the almost inaccessible ravine of the Huatanay. On the north, from the terraces already described for 174 paces in a westerly direction, the position is naturally defended by the steep ravine through which flows the river Rodadero, and only required a single stone breastwork, which still exists. But from this point to the western extremity of the table land, a distance of 400 paces, it is entirely undefended by nature. Here the Yncas constructed that gigantic treble line of Cyclopean fortification, which must fill the mind of every traveller with astonishment and admiration. The first wall averages a height of 18 feet, the second of 16, and the third of 14: the terrace between the first and second being 10 paces across, and that between the second and third 8 paces. The walls are built with salient and retiring angles. The position is entered by three doorways, so narrow that they only admit of the passage of one man at a time. The outer angles are generally composed of one enormous block of stone. I measured some of these. One was 17 feet high, 12 broad, and 7½ long; another, 16 feet high by 6 broad. They are made to fit so exactly one into the other as to form a piece of masonry unparalleled in solidity and the peculiarity of its construction, in any other part of the world. These walls are composed of a limestone of a dark slate colour, and are now overgrown with cacti and wild flowers.