Rosaspata.  He had never heard of Uilcapampa Viejo, but he admitted that there were ruins in the montana near Conservidayoc.  Other Indians were questioned by Condore.  Several had heard of the ruins of Conservidayoc, but, apparently, none of them, nor any one in the village, had actually seen the ruins or visited their immediate vicinity.  They all agreed that Saavedra’s place was “at least four days’ hard journey on foot in the montana beyond Pampaconas.”  No village of that name appeared on any map of Peru, although it is frequently mentioned in the documents of the sixteenth century.  Rodriguez de Figueroa, who came to seek an audience with Titu Cusi about 1565, says that he met Titu Cusi at a place called Banbaconas.  He says further that the Inca came there from somewhere down in the dense forests of the montana and presented him with a macaw and two hampers of peanuts—­products of a warm region.

We had brought with us the large sheets of Raimondi’s invaluable map which covered this locality.  We also had the new map of South Peru and North Bolivia which had just been published by the Royal Geographical Society and gave a summary of all available information.  The Indians said that Conservidayoc lay in a westerly direction from Vilcabamba, yet on Raimondi’s map all of the rivers which rise in the mountains west of the town are short affluents of the Apurimac and flow southwest.  We wondered whether the stories about ruins at Conservidayoc would turn out to be as barren of foundation as those we had heard from the trustworthy foreman at Huadquina.  One of our informants said the Inca city was called Espiritu Pampa, or the “Pampa of Ghosts.”  Would the ruins turn out to be “ghosts”?  Would they vanish on the arrival of white men with cameras and steel measuring tapes?

No one at Vilcabamba had seen the ruins, but they said that at the village of Pampaconas, “about five leagues from here,” there were Indians who had actually been to Conservidayoc.  Our supplies were getting low.  There were no shops nearer than Lucma; no food was obtainable from the natives.  Accordingly, notwithstanding the protestations of the hospitable gobernador, we decided to start immediately for Conservidayoc.

At the end of a long day’s march up the Vilcabamba Valley, Professor Foote, with his accustomed skill, was preparing the evening meal and we were both looking forward with satisfaction to enjoying large cups of our favorite beverage.  Several years ago, when traveling on muleback across the great plateau of southern Bolivia, I had learned the value of sweet, hot tea as a stimulant and bracer in the high Andes.  At first astonished to see how much tea the Indian arrieros drank, I learned from sad experience that it was far better than cold water, which often brings on mountain-sickness.  This particular evening, one swallow of the hot tea caused consternation.  It was the most horrible stuff imaginable.  Examination showed small, oily particles floating on the surface.