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Figure

Northeast Face of Yurak Rumi
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Leaving the boulder and the ruins of what possibly had been the house of its attendant priest, we followed the little water course past a large number of very handsomely built agricultural terraces, the first we had seen since leaving Machu Picchu and the most important ones in the valley.  So scarce are andenes in this region and so noteworthy were these in particular that this vale has been named after them.  They were probably built under the direction of Manco.  Near them are a number of carved boulders, huacas.  One had an intihuatana, or sundial nubbin, on it; another was carved in the shape of a saddle.  Continuing, we followed a trickling stream through thick woods until we suddenly arrived at an open place called nusta Isppana.  Here before us was a great white rock over a spring.  Our guides had not misled us.  Beneath the trees were the ruins of an Inca temple, flanking and partly enclosing the gigantic granite boulder, one end of which overhung a small pool of running water.  When we learned that the present name of this immediate vicinity is Chuquipalta our happiness was complete.

It was late on the afternoon of August 9, 1911, when I first saw this remarkable shrine.  Densely wooded hills rose on every side.  There was not a hut to be seen; scarcely a sound to be heard.  It was an ideal place for practicing the mystic ceremonies of an ancient cult.  The remarkable aspect of this great boulder and the dark pool beneath its shadow had caused this to become a place of worship.  Here, without doubt, was “the principal mochadero of those forested mountains.”  It is still venerated by the Indians of the vicinity.  At last we had found the place where, in the days of Titu Cusi, the Inca priests faced the east, greeted the rising sun, “extended their hands toward it,” and “threw kisses to it,” “a ceremony of the most profound resignation and reverence.”  We may imagine the sun priests, clad in their resplendent robes of office, standing on the top of the rock at the edge of its steepest side, their faces lit up with the rosy light of the early morning, awaiting the moment when the Great Divinity should appear above the eastern hills and receive their adoration.  As it rose they saluted it and cried:  “O Sun!  Thou who art in peace and safety, shine upon us, keep us from sickness, and keep us in health and safety.  O Sun!  Thou who hast said let there be Cuzco and Tampu, grant that these children may conquer all other people.  We beseech thee that thy children the Incas may be always conquerors, since it is for this that thou hast created them.”

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Figure

Plan of the Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Nusta Isppana Formerly Yurak Rumi in Chuquipalpa Near Uiticos ------