Note 455 — Chapter XCII

Ccuri-cancha means literally “the place of gold.” Its site is now occupied by the convent of San Domingo, but several portions of the ancient temple of the sun are still standing, especially at the west end, where a mass of the dark, beautifully-formed masonry, about eighteen feet high, overhangs the Huatanay river. At the east end of the convent the ancient wall of the temple is almost entire, being seventy paces long and about thirty feet high. The stones are of irregular length, generally about two feet by one and a-half, and very accurately cut. They are in regular parallel courses, with their exterior surfaces projecting slightly and sloping off at the sides to form a junction with their neighbours. The roof was formed of beams pitched very high, and thatched with straw. In the interior the four walls were lined with plates of gold, and at one end there was a huge golden sun, with features represented, and rays of flame darting from its circumference, all of one piece. It extended from one wall to the other, occupying the whole side. This magnificent prize fell to the share of a Spanish knight named Marcio Serra de Lejesama, who gambled it away in one night; but he never took a card into his hand again. The reformed knight married an Ynca princess, and left the memorable will which I have quoted in a note at page 124.

On each side of the golden sun were the mummies of the deceased Yncas, seated in chairs of gold. The principal door faced towards the north, and opened on the open space known as the Ynti-pampa; and a cornice of gold, a yard broad, ran round the exterior walls of the temple. On the south side were the cloisters, also ornamented with a broad cornice of gold, and within the enclosure were buildings dedicated to the moon, and adorned with silver, to the stars, to lightning, and to the rainbow; as well as the dwellings of the Huillac Umu, or high priest, and of his attendants. Within the courts of these cloisters there were five fountains, with pipes of silver or gold. In the rear of the cloisters was the garden of the sun, where all the flowers, fruits, and leaves, were of pure beaten gold. I have myself seen some of these golden fruits and flowers.