hoquechaca, which in their lines resembled ancient Egyptian buildings.
Not far off were the blocks of rock to which the Incas fastened their
prisoners by their legs, arms and heads, and exposed them to the ridicule
of the populace.

Many were the wonderful things which had been found in digging near
Cuzco; but most interesting of all to me were the deformed crania--some
flattened to almost an incredible extent on the top, others elongated
backward to an amazing degree, others still with the central part of the
skull deeply depressed, so as to form two globular swellings at the
sides. Others, again, had been squeezed so as to form an angular ridge
longitudinally on the summit. One skull particularly interested me, which
had a pronounced elongation backward, and a dent just above the forehead
which must have been caused by tying the cranium while young and still in
a soft condition. Most of the skulls were of gigantic size when compared
with those of modern times. The lower part was under-developed. Many of
them possessed magnificent teeth.

Several of the skulls had been trephined, evidently while the person was
still alive, some of the perforations in the brain-case being circular in
shape, others quadrangular--most of the trephinations having been made in
the forehead, others on the top of the skull. I saw one skull with as
many as eleven apertures thus made. The operation had evidently been
performed by a very able surgeon, for the little cap of bone removed
fitted beautifully into the opening that had been made.

[Illustration: Inca Towers of Sillistayni, Puno (Lake Titicaca).]

[Illustration: An Inca Statue, Bolivia.]

The Incas were great architects. They had an absolute craving for
carving rock. They made models of their fortresses and palaces in blocks
of hard stone, some of these being of remarkable perfection in their
detail.

The pottery, red earthen vessels with geometrical designs upon them, was
most interesting, especially the large jars which must have been used for
fermenting wine. Those jars of a typical shape must have rested on a
pedestal of wood, as they ended in a point at the bottom, which prevented
their standing up on a flat surface. Two handles were attached to the
lower part of those jars, and also to the great bottles in which they
kept wine.

The Incas used tumblers, enamelled in red and green, and of most graceful
shape.

They were fond of ornamenting their bottles and vessels with