s
likely that this might be the very Puquiura where Friar Marcos had
established the first church in the "province of Uilcapampa." But
that was "near" Uiticos and near a village called Chuquipalpa, where
should be found the ruins of a Temple of the Sun, and in these ruins
a "white rock over a spring of water." Yet neither these friendly
planters nor the friends among whom they inquired had ever heard of
Uiticos or a place called Chuquipalpa, or of such an interesting rock;
nor had they themselves seen the ruins of which they had heard.

One of Senor Lomellini's friends, a talkative old fellow who
had spent a large part of his life in prospecting for mines in
the department of Cuzco, said that he had seen ruins "finer than
Choqquequirau" at a place called Huayna Picchu; but he had never been
to Choqquequirau. Those who knew him best shrugged their shoulders
and did not seem to place much confidence in his word. Too often he
had been over-enthusiastic about mines which did not "pan out." Yet
his report resembled that of Charles Wiener, a French explorer,
who, about 1875, in the course of his wanderings in the Andes,
visited Ollantaytambo. While there he was told that there were fine
ruins down the Urubamba Valley at a place called "Huaina-Picchu or
Matcho-Picchu." He decided to go down the valley and look for these
ruins. According to his text he crossed the Pass of Panticalla,
descended the Lucumayo River to the bridge of Choqquechacca, and
visited the lower Urubamba, returning by the same route. He published
a detailed map of the valley. To one of its peaks he gives the name
"Huaynapicchu, ele. 1815 m." and to another "Matchopicchu, ele. 1720
m." His interest in Inca ruins was very keen. He devotes pages to
Ollantaytambo. He failed to reach Machu Picchu or to find any ruins
of importance in the Urubamba or Vilcabamba valleys. Could we hope
to be any more successful? Would the rumors that had reached us "pan
out" as badly as those to which Wiener had listened so eagerly? Since
his day, to be sure, the Peruvian Government had actually finished
a road which led past Machu Picchu. On the other hand, a Harvard
Anthropological Expedition, under the leadership of Dr. William
C. Farrabee, had recently been over this road without reporting
any ruins of importance. They were looking for savages and not
ruins. Nevertheless, if Machu Picchu was "finer than Choqquequirau"
why had no one pointed it out to them?

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FIGURE