ferent part of the
city.<45> Those who call these buildings palaces, think the houses of
the ordinary people have all disappeared. It is evident, however, that
if our views of the state of society among the Incas be right, that it
is a misnomer to call these structures palaces. Some of them may have
been public buildings, devoted to tribal purposes. But we need not doubt
but that this was the type of communal buildings erected by the natives
of Cuzco.

Illustration of Fortress Walls.-----------------

We must describe one more piece of aboriginal work. This is the
celebrated Fortress of Cuzco. As we have stated, the ancient pueblo,
or city@, was built on the slopes of three hills. One of these, easily
defended, was strongly fortified, and thus converted into a citadel.
Though called a hill, it is in reality a projecting headland. Back of
it rise still higher hills. The portion overhanging the city is very
precipitous, in fact, almost incapable of ascent. There is, however, a
pathway up this front, ascending in places by stone steps. On this front
it did not need very strong fortifications, yet sections of stone wall,
serving for this purpose, are to be seen. They have been mostly thrown
down, and the stones rolled or tumbled down the hill to be utilized in
building. The main defensive works are where the headland commences,
from which point the city is not visible.

Illustration of Section of Fortress Walls.-------------

In this illustration we have a view of the three massive walls which
defended the citadel. They are really wonderful works. In order to
understand the construction, we will present an imaginary section of the
walls. The walls support terraces, but they rose above the terraces so
as to form a parapet. To prevent the accumulation of water behind the
parapet, channels were cut through the walls at regular intervals to
drain them. The height of the outer wall is at present twenty-seven
feet; the width of the terrace thirty-five feet. The second wall is
eighteen feet high; the width of its terrace is also eighteen feet. The
height of the third wall is fourteen feet.

The Incas divided the year into twelve months, but we do not learn
how they kept track of the years. In this respect they were behind the
Mexicans. Neither do we know of any hieroglyphics for days, or months,
or years. In the matter of keeping records, they must have been far
below the Mexicans. Our next illustration is that of one