Chapter I: Front Matter

INCA LAND

Explorations in the Highlands of Peru

By

Hiram Bingham

1922

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"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges--Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

Kipling: "The Explorer" ------

This Volume

is affectionately dedicated

to

the Muse who inspired it

the Little Mother of Seven Sons

Preface

The following pages represent some of the results of four journeys into the interior of Peru and also many explorations into the labyrinth of early writings which treat of the Incas and their Land. Although my travels covered only a part of southern Peru, they took me into every variety of climate and forced me to camp at almost every altitude at which men have constructed houses or erected tents in the Western Hemisphere--from sea level up to 21,703 feet. It has been my lot to cross bleak Andean passes, where there are heavy snowfalls and low temperatures, as well as to wend my way through gigantic canyons into the dense jungles of the Amazon Basin, as hot and humid a region as exists anywhere in the world. The Incas lived in a land of violent contrasts. No deserts in the world have less vegetation than those of Sihuas and Majes; no luxuriant tropical valleys have more plant life than the jungles of Conservidayoc. In Inca Land one may pass from glaciers to tree ferns within a few hours. So also in the labyrinth of contemporary chronicles of the last of the Incas--no historians go more rapidly from fact to fancy, from accurate observation to grotesque imagination; no writers omit important details and give conflicting statements with greater frequency. The story of the Incas is still in a maze of doubt and contradiction.

It was the mystery and romance of some of the wonderful pictures of a nineteenth-century explorer that first led me into the relatively unknown region between the Apurimac and the Urubamba, sometimes called "the Cradle of the Incas." Although my photographs cannot compete with the imaginative pencil of such an artist, nevertheless, I hope that some of them may lead future travelers to penetrate still farther into the Land of the Incas and engage in the fascinating game of identifying elusive places mentioned in the chronicles.

Some of my story has already been told in Harper's and the National Geographic, to whose editors acknowledgments are due for permission to use the material in its present form. A glance at the Bibliography will show that more than fifty articles and monographs have been published as a result of the Peruvian Expeditions of Yale University and the National Geographic Society. Other reports are still in course of preparation. My own observations are based partly on a study of these monographs and the writings of former travelers, partly on the maps and notes made by my companions, and partly on a study of our Peruvian photographs, a collection now numbering over eleven thousand negatives. Another source of information was the opportunity of frequent conferences with my fellow explorers. One of the great advantages of large expeditions is the bringing to bear on the same problem of minds which have received widely different training.

My companions on these journeys were, in 1909, Mr. Clarence L. Hay; in 1911, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, Professor Harry Ward Foote, Dr. William G. Erving, Messrs. Kai Hendriksen, H. L. Tucker, and Paul B. Lanius; in 1912, Professor Herbert E. Gregory, Dr. George F. Eaton, Dr. Luther T. Nelson, Messrs. Albert H. Bumstead, E. C. Erdis, Kenneth C. Heald, Robert Stephenson, Paul Bestor, Osgood Hardy, and Joseph Little; and in 1915, Dr. David E. Ford, Messrs. O. F. Cook, Edmund Heller, E. C. Erdis, E. L. Anderson, Clarence F. Maynard, J. J. Hasbrouck, Osgood Hardy, Geoffrey W. Morkill, and G. Bruce Gilbert. To these, my comrades in enterprises which were not always free from discomfort or danger, I desire to acknowledge most fully my great obligations. In the following pages they will sometimes recognize their handiwork; at other times they may wonder why it has been overlooked. Perhaps in another volume, which is already under way and in which I hope to cover more particularly Machu Picchu [1] and its vicinity, they will eventually find much of what cannot be told here.

Sincere and grateful thanks are due also to Mr. Edward S. Harkness for offering generous assistance when aid was most difficult to secure; to Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor and the National Geographic Society for liberal and enthusiastic support; to President Taft of the United States and President Leguia of Peru for official help of a most important nature; to Messrs. W. R. Grace & Company and to Mr. William L. Morkill and Mr. L. S. Blaisdell, of the Peruvian Corporation, for cordial and untiring coöperation; to Don Cesare Lomellini, Don Pedro Duque, and their sons, and Mr. Frederic B. Johnson, of Yale University, for many practical kindnesses; to Mrs. Blanche Peberdy Tompkins and Miss Mary G. Reynolds for invaluable secretarial aid; and last, but by no means least, to Mrs. Alfred Mitchell for making possible the writing of this book.

Hiram Bingham

Yale University October 1, 1922

Contents

I. Crossing the Desert 1 II. Climbing Coropuna 23 III. To Parinacochas 50 IV. Flamingo Lake 74 V. Titicaca 95 VI. The Vilcanota Country and the Peruvian Highlanders 110 VII. The Valley of the Huatanay 133 VIII. The Oldest City in South America 157 IX. The Last Four Incas 170 X. Searching for the Last Inca Capital 198 XI. The Search Continued 217 XII. The Fortress of Uiticos and the House of the Sun 241 XIII. Vilcabamba 255 XIV. Conservidayoc 266 XV. The Pampa of Ghosts 292 XVI. The Story of Tampu-tocco, a Lost City of the First Incas 306 XVII. Machu Picchu 314 XVIII. The Origin of Machu Picchu 326

Glossary 341
Bibliography of the Peruvian Expeditions of Yale University
and the National Geographic Society 345
Index 353

Illustrations

"Something Hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges" Frontispiece Sketch Map of Southern Peru 1 Mt. Coropuna from the Northwest 12 Mt. Coropuna from the South 24 The Base Camp, Coropuna, at 17,300 Feet 32 Photograph by H. L. Tucker Camping at 18,450 Feet on the Slopes of Coropuna 32 Photograph by H. L. Tucker One of the Frequent Rests in the Ascent of Coropuna 42 Photograph by H. L. Tucker The Camp on the Summit 42 Photograph by H. L. Tucker The Sub-Prefect of Cotahuasi, his Military Aide, and Messrs. Tucker, Hendriksen, Bowman, and Bingham inspecting the Local Rug-weaving Industry 60 Photograph by C. Watkins Inca Storehouses at Chichipampa, near Colta 66 Photograph by H. L. Tucker Flamingoes on Lake Parinacochas, and Mt. Sarasara 78 Mr. Tucker on a Mountain Trail near Caraveli 90 The Main Street of Chuquibamba 90 Photograph by H. L. Tucker A Lake Titicaca Balsa at Puno 98 A Step-topped Niche on the Island of Koati 98 Indian Alcaldes at Santa Rosa 114 Native Druggists in the Plaza of Sicuani 114 Laying Down the Warp for a Blanket; near the Pass of La Raya 120 Plowing a Potato-field at La Raya 120 The Ruins of the Temple of Viracocha at Racche 128 Route Map of the Peruvian Expedition of 1912 132 Lucre Basin, Lake Muyna, and the City Wall of Piquillacta 136 Sacsahuaman: Detail of Lower Terrace Wall 140 Ruins of the Aqueduct of Rumiccolca 140 Huatanay Valley, Cuzco, and the Ayahuaycco Quebrada 150 Map of Peru and View of Cuzco 158 From the "Speculum Orbis Terrarum," Antwerp, 1578 Towers of Jesuit Church with Cloisters and Tennis Court of University, Cuzco 162 Glaciers Between Cuzco and Uiticos 170 The Urubamba Canyon: A Reason for the Safety of the Incas in Uilcapampa 176 Yucay, Last Home of Sayri Tupac 186 Part of the Nuremberg Map of 1599, showing Pincos and the Andes Mountains 198 Route Map of the Peruvian Expedition of 1915 202 Mt. Veronica and Salapunco, the Gateway to Uilcapampa 206 Grosvenor Glacier and Mt. Salcantay 210 The Road between Maquina and Mandor Pampa, near Machu Picchu 214 Huadquiña 220 Ruins of Yurak Rumi near Huadquiña 225 Plan and elevations drawn by A. H. Bumstead Pucyura and the Hill of Rosaspata in the Vilcabamba Valley 238 Principal Doorway of the Long Palace at Rosaspata 242 Photograph by E. C. Erdis Another Doorway in the Ruins of Rosaspata 242 Northeast Face of Yurak Rumi 246 Plan of the Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Ñusta Isppana 248 Drawn by R. H. Bumstead Carved Seats and Platforms of Ñusta Isppana 250 Two of the Seven Seats near the Spring under the Great White Rock 250 Photograph by A. H. Bumstead Ñusta Isppana 256 Quispi Cusi testifying about Inca Ruins 268 Photograph by H. W. Foote One of our Bearers crossing the Pampaconas River 268 Photograph by H. W. Foote Saavedra and his Inca Pottery 288 Inca Gable at Espiritu Pampa 288 Inca Ruins in the Jungles of Espiritu Pampa 294 Photograph by H. W. Foote Campa Men at Espiritu Pampa 302 Photograph by H. L. Tucker Campa Women and Children at Espiritu Pampa 302 Photograph by H. L. Tucker Puma Urco, near Paccaritampu 306 The Best Inca Wall at Maucallacta, near Paccaritampu 312 The Caves of Puma Urco, Near Paccaritampu 312 Flashlight View of Interior of Cave, Machu Picchu 320 Temple over Cave at Machu Picchu; suggested by the Author as the Probable Site of Tampu-tocco 320 Detail of Principal Temple, Machu Picchu 324 Detail of Exterior of Temple of the Three Windows, Machu Picchu 324 The Masonry Wall with Three Windows, Machu Picchu 328 The Gorges, opening Wide Apart, reveal Uilcapampa's Granite Citadel, the Crown of Inca Land 338

Except as otherwise indicated the illustrations are from photographs by the author.

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Sketch Map of Southern Peru. ------

INCA LAND