d
to it, along which were ranged a body of guards armed with battle-axes
and spears. The Inca sat on his throne, dressed in the ancient costume
of his ancestors, which I have before described; and officers of various
ranks kept continually coming up to receive orders. As they approached,
they bowed reverentially before him, and knelt at his feet while he
addressed them. I could scarcely believe that what I saw was a reality,
and that I was not dreaming of the accounts I had read of the early
history of the country. It did not then occur to me that much valuable
time was thus lost to the Indian cause in idle ceremony; and that Tupac
Amaru would have had a better chance of success had he at once swept the
country from north to south with his forces, before the Spaniards had
recovered from their terror and dismay at their first defeat.

After stopping for a few minutes to gaze at the novel and interesting
scene, we turned up a path through a ravine, and were quickly again in
the solitude of the mountains. We travelled upwards for three days,
sleeping at nights at the huts of Indians, where we received a warm
welcome from their wives, but the men were in all cases absent. We were
now crossing the Puna heights, as the table-lands on the upper part of
the Cordilleras are called. We were some fourteen thousand feet above
the level of the sea. On either side arose the lofty summits of the
Cordilleras, covered with the ice of centuries. Before us stretched out
to a great extent the level heights, covered with the dull yellow Puna
grass, blending its tint with the greenish hue of the glaciers. It was
truly a wild and desolate scene. Herds of vicunas approached to gaze
with wonder at us, and then turning affrighted, fled away with the
swiftness of the wind. The Puna stag, with stately step, advanced from
his lair in the recesses of the mountains, and gazed on us with his
large wondering eyes. Farther off were groups of huancas, looking
cautiously at us as we passed, while the rock-rabbits disported nimbly
around us. I begged Manco not to shoot them, for we did not require
food, and I never liked killing an animal for sport.

The mountain air and exercise had completely restored my strength, when
on a sudden an indescribable oppression overcame me. My heart throbbed
audibly, and my breathing became short and interrupted, while a weight
as if of lead lay on my chest. My lips swelled and burst, blood flowed
from my e