ding
Lizarraga's discoveries. It is small wonder that the occasional
stories about Machu Picchu which had drifted into Cuzco had never
elicited any enthusiasm nor even provoked investigation on the part
of those professors and students in the University of Cuzco who were
interested in visiting the remains of Inca civilization. They knew
only too well the fondness of their countrymen for exaggeration and
their inability to report facts accurately.

Obviously, we had not yet found Uiticos. So, bidding farewell to
Senora Carmen, we crossed the Urubamba on the bridge of Colpani and
proceeded down the valley past the mouth of the Lucumayo and the
road from Panticalla, to the hamlet of Chauillay, where the Urubamba
is joined by the Vilcabamba River. [11] Both rivers are restricted
here to narrow gorges, through which their waters rush and roar on
their way to the lower valley. A few rods from Chauillay was a fine
bridge. The natives call it Chuquichaca! Steel and iron have superseded
the old suspension bridge of huge cables made of vegetable fiber, with
its narrow roadway of wattles supported by a network of vines. Yet
here it was that in 1572 the military force sent by the viceroy,
Francisco de Toledo, under the command of General Martin Hurtado and
Captain Garcia, found the forces of the young Inca drawn up to defend
Uiticos. It will be remembered that after a brief preliminary fire
the forces of Tupac Amaru were routed without having destroyed the
bridge and thus Captain Garcia was enabled to accomplish that which
had proved too much for the famous Gonzalo Pizarro. Our inspection of
the surroundings showed that Captain Garcia's companion, Baltasar de
Ocampo, was correct when he said that the occupation of the bridge
of Chuquichaca "was a measure of no small importance for the royal
force." It certainly would have caused the Spaniards "great trouble"
if they had had to rebuild it.

We might now have proceeded to follow Garcia's tracks up the Vilcabamba
had we not been anxious to see the proprietor of the plantation of
Santa Ana, Don Pedro Duque, reputed to be the wisest and ablest man
in this whole province. We felt he would be able to offer us advice of
prime importance in our search. So leaving the bridge of Chuquichaca,
we continued down the Urubamba River which here meanders through a
broad, fertile valley, green with tropical plantations. We passed
groves of bananas and oranges, waving fields of green sugar cane, the