Note 459 — Chapter XCIV

The valley of Yucay or Vilca-mayu is the paradise of Peru. It was the favourite residence of the Yncas, and is one of the most delightful spots in this favoured land. The rapid river which flows through it rises in the mountains of Vilcañota, and, leaving the city of Cuzco at a distance of about ten miles to the west, eventually joins the Apurimac after a course of about four hundred miles, and becomes one of the main affluents of the Ucayali.

The valley is seldom more than three miles in breadth, and is bounded on its eastern side by the snow-capped range of the Andes. To the westward there is a lower range of steep and rocky mountains. Within these narrow limits the vale of Yucay enjoys a delicious climate, and the picturesque farms, with their maize towers surrounded by little thickets of fruit trees, the villages scattered here and there along the banks of the rapid river, the groves of trees, and the lofty mountains rising abruptly from the valley, combine to form a landscape of exceeding beauty. The little village of Yucay is on the site of the delicious country retreat of the Yncas, a palace on which all the arts of Peruvian civilisation were lavished to render it a fitting abode for the sovereign and his court. The only remaining vestiges of the palace are two walls of Ynca masonry, forming sides of a modern house in the plaza of the village.