tus, also from Australia. Cuzco has been thought of and written
of as being above the tree line, but such is not the case. The absence
of trees on the neighboring hills is due entirely to the hand of man,
the long occupation, the necessities of early agriculturists, who
cleared the forests before the days of intensive terrace agriculture,
and the firewood requirements of a large population. The people of
Cuzco do not dream of having enough fuel to make their houses warm
and comfortable. Only with difficulty can they get enough for cooking
purposes. They depend largely on fagots and straw which are brought
into town on the backs of men and animals.

In the fields of stubble left from the wheat and barley harvest we
saw many sheep feeding. They were thin and long-legged and many of
the rams had four horns, apparently due to centuries of inbreeding
and the failure to improve the original stock by the introduction of
new and superior strains.

When one looks at the great amount of arable slopes on most of the
hills of the Cuzco Basin and the unusually extensive flat land near the
Huatanay, one readily understands why the heart of Inca Land witnessed
a concentration of population very unusual in the Andes. Most of the
important ruins are in the northwest quadrant of the basin either in
the immediate vicinity of Cuzco itself or on the "pampas" north of the
city. The reason is that the arable lands where most extensive potato
cultivation could be carried out are nearly all in this quadrant. In
the midst of this potato country, at the foot of the pass that leads
directly to Pisac and Paucartambo, is a picturesque ruin which bears
the native name of Pucara.

Pucara is the Quichua word for fortress and it needs but one glance
at the little hilltop crowned with a rectangular fortification to
realize that the term is justified. The walls are beautifully made of
irregular blocks closely fitted together. Advantage was taken of small
cliffs on two sides of the hill to strengthen the fortifications. We
noticed openings or drains which had been cut in the wall by the
original builders in order to prevent the accumulation of moisture on
the terraced floor of the enclosed area, which is several feet above
that of the sloping field outside. Similar conduits may be seen in
many of the old walls in the city of Cuzco. Apparently, the ancient
folk fully appreciated the importance of good drainage and took pains
to secure it. At present Puca