s of sculpture, "which speaks to us,"
says Sir C. R. Markham, "in difficult riddles of the customs and art
culture, of the beliefs and traditions of an ancient" extinct
civilization.

The figure in high relief above the doorway (Fig. 2) is a head
surrounded by rays, "each terminating in a circle or the head of an
animal." Six human heads hang from the girdle, and two more from the
elbows. Each hand holds a scepter terminating at the lower end with the
head of a condor--that huge American vulture familiar to the Peruvians.
That bird of prey was probably an emblem of royalty to the prehistoric
dynasty now long forgotten.

[Illustration: Image over the doorway shown in Fig. 1.

Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 2.]

Some older historians speak of richly carved statues which formerly
stood in this enclosure, and "many cylindrical pillars." Of the
masonry of these ruins generally, Squier says: "The stone is faced
with a precision that no skill can excel, its right angles turned with
an accuracy that the most careful geometer could not surpass. I do not
believe there exists a better piece of stone-cutting, the material
considered, on this or the other continent."

The fortress above Cuzco, the capital of the Incas, is considered the
grandest monument of extinct American civilization. "Like the Pyramids
and the Coliseum, it is imperishable.... A fortified work, 600 yards in
length, built of gigantic stones, in three lines, forming walls
supporting terraces and parapets.... The stones are of blue limestone,
of enormous size and irregular in shape, but fitted into each other with
rare precision. One stone is twenty-seven feet high by fourteen; and
others fifteen feet high by twelve are common throughout the work."

In all the architecture of the prehistoric Peruvians the true arch is
not found, though there is an approach to the "Maya arch," formerly
described, finishing the doorway overhead by overlapping stones.

The immense fortresses of Ollantay and Pisac are really hills which, by
means of encircling walls, have been transformed into immense pyramids
with many terraces rising above each other. All large buildings, such as
temples and palaces, were laid out to agree with the "cardinal points,"
the principal entrance always facing the rising sun. The tomb
construction of the ancient Peruvians has been already noticed (_v._
chap. iv).

To the south of Cuzco are the ruins of a temple, Cacha, which is
considered to be of a date