d can go for 250 miles in a straight
line, except for the curvature of the earth--to see this little bit
of flood-plain called Mandor Pampa, they would think some one had been
joking or else grossly misusing a word which means to them illimitable
space with not a hill in sight. However, to the ancient dwellers in
this valley, where level land was so scarce that it was worth while
to build high stone-faced terraces so as to enable two rows of corn
to grow where none grew before, any little natural breathing space
in the bottom of the canyon is called a pampa.

------
FIGURE

The Road Between Maquina and Mandor Pampa Near Machu Picchu
------

We passed an ill-kept, grass-thatched hut, turned off the road through
a tiny clearing, and made our camp at the edge of the river Urubamba
on a sandy beach. Opposite us, beyond the huge granite boulders
which interfered with the progress of the surging stream, was a steep
mountain clothed with thick jungle. It was an ideal spot for a camp,
near the road and yet secluded. Our actions, however, aroused the
suspicions of the owner of the hut, Melchor Arteaga, who leases the
lands of Mandor Pampa. He was anxious to know why we did not stay at
his hut like respectable travelers. Our gendarme, Sergeant Carrasco,
reassured him. They had quite a long conversation. When Arteaga learned
that we were interested in the architectural remains of the Incas, he
said there were some very good ruins in this vicinity--in fact, some
excellent ones on top of the opposite mountain, called Huayna Picchu,
and also on a ridge called Machu Picchu. These were the very places
Charles Wiener heard of at Ollantaytambo in 1875 and had been unable to
reach. The story of my experiences on the following day will be found
in a later chapter. Suffice it to say at this point that the ruins
of Huayna Picchu turned out to be of very little importance, while
those of Machu Picchu, familiar to readers of the "National Geographic
Magazine," are as interesting as any ever found in the Andes.

When I first saw the remarkable citadel of Machu Picchu perched on
a narrow ridge two thousand feet above the river, I wondered if it
could be the place to which that old soldier, Baltasar de Ocampo,
a member of Captain Garcia's expedition, was referring when he said:
"The Inca Tupac Amaru was there in the fortress of Pitcos [Uiticos],
which is on a very high mountain, whence the view commanded a great
part of the province of