rrounded by a low stone wall; these fields are at present overgrown
with Puna grass, and are not fit for cultivation. They are what were
called _Tapu_ lands, which were distributed to every subject of the Inca
empire, so that each family enjoyed the produce arising from the
cultivation of a certain portion of ground. These Tapu lands were
watered by skilfully constructed aqueducts, whereby they were rendered
suitable for agriculture. The Spaniards having destroyed the conduits,
the reservoirs dried up, and the soil became barren. Many of these
conduits were subterraneous, and it is now no longer possible to find
them; in some parts they were constructed with pipes of gold, which the
Spaniards eagerly seized as valuable booty.

There still exist vast remains of well-constructed colossal buildings,
as palaces, fortresses, and temples. The walls of these edifices were
built of square stones, so finely cut, and joined so closely together,
that between any two there is not space sufficient to insert the edge of
the thinnest paper. In the royal palace of Cuzco, and in the Temple of
the Sun, a fusion of gold or silver was used for cement between the
stones. This was, however, only employed as a luxury; for in other great
edifices, for example, in the baths of Huamalies in the province of
Jauja, stones are kept together by their own weight and the precision of
the workmanship. These stones are of very considerable magnitude; some
being from twelve to sixteen feet long, from eight to ten feet high, and
equally broad. They are not all square; some are polygonal, and some
spherical, but they were all joined one to another with the same
exactness: of this a remarkable example is presented in the highly
interesting ruins of the palace of Limatambo. A question which naturally
suggests itself is,--how did the ancient Peruvians, without iron tools,
hew these vast stones, and afterwards work the different fragments so
skilfully? The first point is to me quite inexplicable; the second may
possibly be accounted for by friction; the softest of two stones which
was to be brought into a particular shape being rubbed by a harder, and
afterwards polished by pyritous plants. The removal of the block from
the quarry where it was excavated to the place of its destination, and
the raising of fragments of stone to considerable heights, could only
have been effected by the co-operation of thousands of men, for no kind
of elevating machinery or lever