"Toward the north of Cuzco, on a rugged eminence, rose a strong fortress the remains of which at the present day by their vast size excite the admiration of the traveller. It was defended by a single wall of great thickness and 1200 feet long on the side facing the city, where the preCip itous character of the ground was of itself almost sufficient for its defence. On the other quarter, where the approaches were less difficult, it was pro tected by two other semicircular walls, of the same length as the preceding. They were separated a considerable distance from one another and from the fortress, and the intervening ground was raised, so that the walls afforded a breastwork for the troops stationed there in times of assault. The fortress consisted of three towers detached from one another. The hill was excavated below the towers, and several subterranean galleries communicated with the city and the palaces of the Inca. The fortress, the walls, and the galleries were all built of stone, the heavy blocks of which were not laid in regular courses, but so disposed that the small ones might fill up the interstices between the great. The several blocks were adjusted with so much exactness and united so closely that it was impos sible to introduce even the blade of a knife between them. Many of these
stones were of vast size, some of them being full 38 feet long, by IS broad, and 6 feet thick " (Prescott).
Two great roads—the one on the seacoast, the other from the coast to the mountains—had a breadth of 12 metres (39 feet) and a length of 500 leagues. The mountain-road, which broke through cliffs and passed over hollows, was walled on both sides and had outlets for water; it was provided at intervals with hospices. Aqueducts of great length traversed the country.
The Temples of the Perupians were built of sun-dried bricks and shone with a wealth of the precious metals; remains of stone temples, palaces, and other buildings still exist. Of the Temple of Viracocha, south of Cuzco, it is related that it had two storeys and enclosed Nv ithin a chapel a stone image-column of the god, which was so much in the European manner that the Spaniards believed it to be a figure of St. Bartholomew. The style of the buildings preserved to us, judging from illustrations, has nothing of the fanciful, and was not surprisingly different from that of temperate Europe.