Until further light can be thrown on this fascinating problem it seems reasonable to conclude that at Machu Picchu we have the ruins of Tampu-tocco, the birthplace of the first Inca, Manco Ccapac, and also the ruins of a sacred city of the last Incas.  Surely this granite citadel, which has made such a strong appeal to us on account of its striking beauty and the indescribable charm of its surroundings, appears to have had a most interesting history.  Selected about 800 A.D. as the safest place of refuge for the last remnants of the old regime fleeing from southern invaders, it became the site of the capital of a new kingdom, and gave birth to the most remarkable family which South America has ever seen.  Abandoned, about 1300, when Cuzco once more flashed into glory as the capital of the Peruvian Empire, it seems to have been again sought out in time of trouble, when in 1534 another foreign invader arrived—­this time from Europe—­with a burning desire to extinguish all vestiges of the ancient religion.  In its last state it became the home and refuge of the Virgins of the Sun, priestesses of the most humane cult of aboriginal America.  Here, concealed in a canyon of remarkable grandeur, protected by art and nature, these consecrated women gradually passed away, leaving no known descendants, nor any records other than the masonry walls and artifacts to be described in another volume.  Whoever they were, whatever name be finally assigned to this site by future historians, of this I feel sure—­that few romances can ever surpass that of the granite citadel on top of the beetling precipices of Machu Picchu, the crown of Inca Land.

Glossary

Anu:  A species of nasturtium with edible roots.

Aryballus:  A bottle-shaped vase with pointed bottom.

Azequia:  An irrigation ditch or conduit.

Bar-hold:  A stone cylinder or pin, let into a gatepost in such a way as to permit the gate bar to be tied to it.  Sometimes the bar-hold is part of one of the ashlars of the gatepost.  Bar-holds are usually found in the gateway of a compound or group of Inca houses.

Coca:  Shrub from which cocaine is extracted.  The dried leaves are chewed to secure the desired deadening effect of the drug.

Conquistadores:  Spanish soldiers engaged in the conquest of America.

Eye-bonder:  A narrow, rough ashlar in one end of which a chamfered hole has been cut.  Usually about 2 feet long, 6 inches wide, and 2 inches thick, it was bonded into the wall of a gable at right angles to its slope and flush with its surface.  To it the purlins of the roof could be fastened.  Eye-bonders are also found projecting above the lintel of a gateway to a compound.  If the “bar-holds” were intended to secure the horizontal bar of an important gate, these eye-bonders may have been for a vertical bar.

Gobernador:  The Spanish-speaking town magistrate.  The alcaldes are his Indian aids.