The Prehistoric World: or, Vanished Races, page 609 by E.A. Allen
<< Return to Title Details & Download610
ivinities on this temple, and by that name the place is now known to us.<39>
The ruins of the supposed temple are seen on the hill in the background of the picture. A number of writers speak of this hill in such terms as to imply that it was altogether artificial, like the famous pyramid at Cholula.
Mr. Squier says that it is largely artificial, but that the central core is a natural hill. He speaks of rocks cropping out on the highest part, which seem to be conclusive of the matter. They built up great terraces around this central core. These terrace walls are now in such a ruined condition that they can with difficulty be made out. We introduce this cut as a nearer view of the ruins of the temple.
Illustration of View of the Temple.--------------
Some writers assert that the Incas erected on the summit of this hill a temple of the sun. There are, however, no good proofs of this assertion. According to Mr. Squier the only ruin of the Inca type of architecture is a mile and a half distant. Mr. Hutchinson noticed, on the very top of the hill, evidence of the same mysterious proceedings to which we have already referred--that is, great rooms all filled up with clay. He propounds this query: "Whose hands carried up the enormous quantities of earth that fill every space and allow no definition of rooms, halls, or, indeed, of any thing but the clay itself, and the walls cropping up from amongst them?" We are afraid this query can never be answered. Mr. Hutchinson found graves to be very plentiful all over the field of ruins. Quite a number of curiosities have been found in these graves. We present in this cut some of the same. We call especial attention to the duck-headed bowl. Compare, this with the cut given in Chapter X, and we will be struck with the similarity. Another view of the ruins at Pachacamac is given earlier in this chapter. As in the case of the ruins of Grand Chimu, the whole field of ruins was encompassed by a wall, portions of which Mr. Hutchinson observed on the nor