extraordinarily high
walls. A high wall outside the city, and running north and south,
was obviously built to protect it from enemies approaching from the
Vilcanota Valley. In the other directions the slopes are so steep as
to render a wall unnecessary. The walls are built of fragments of lava
rock, with which the slopes of Mt. Piquillacta are covered. Cacti and
thorny scrub are growing in the ruins, but the volcanic soil is rich
enough to attract the attention of agriculturists, who come here from
neighboring villages to cultivate their crops. The slopes above the
city are still extensively cultivated, but without terraces. Wheat
and barley are the principal crops.

As an illustration of the difficulty of identifying places in ancient
Peru, it is worth noting that the gateway now called Rumiccolca is
figured in Squier's "Peru" as "Piquillacta." On the other hand,
the ruins of the large city, "covering thickly an area nearly a
square mile," are called by Squier "the great Inca town of Muyna,"
a name also applied to the little lake which lies in the bottom of
the Lucre Basin. As Squier came along the road from Racche he saw
Mt. Piquillacta first, then the gateway, then Lake Muyna, then the
ruins of the city. In each case the name of the most conspicuous,
harmless, natural phenomenon seems to have been applied to ruins by
those of whom he inquired. My own experience was different.

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FIGURE

Lucre Basin, Lake Muyna, and the City Wall of Piquillacta
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Dr. Aguilar, a distinguished professor in the University of Cuzco, who
has a country place in the neighborhood and is very familiar with this
region, brought me to this ancient city from the other direction. From
him I learned that the city ruins are called Piquillacta, the name
which is also applied to the mountain which lies to the eastward
of the ruins and rises 1200 feet above them. Dr. Aguilar lives near
Oropesa. As one comes from Oropesa, Mt. Piquillacta is a conspicuous
point and is directly in line with the city ruins. Consequently,
it would be natural for people viewing it from this direction to
give to the ruins the name of the mountain rather than that of the
lake. Yet the mountain may be named for the ruins. Piqui means "flea";
llacta means "town, city, country, district, or territory." Was this
"The Territory of the Fleas" or was it "Flea Town"? And what was its
name in the days of the Incas? Was the old name abandoned because it
was consid