their
armies in these barren regions the requisite supplies of food. Vestiges
of these forts are frequently seen in the Altos of Southern and Central
Peru. They are broad round towers, usually built against a rocky
declivity, and with numerous long apertures for the admission of air.

Even the broad level heights in which no trace of human habitations is
discoverable, have been excavated by the mercenary Peruvian mestizos and
creoles in search of hidden treasures. Their faith in the existence of
concealed riches is founded on the following tradition. When the last
reigning Inca, Atabiliba or Atahuallpa, was made prisoner by Don
Francisco Pizarro, in Caxamarca, he proposed to ransom himself from the
Spanish commander. The price he offered for his liberty was to fill with
gold the cell in which he was confined, to the height of a certain line
on the wall, which Pizarro marked with his sword. The cell, it may be
mentioned, was twenty-two feet long and seventeen broad. A quantity of
gold which the Inca ordered to be collected in Caxamarca and its
vicinity, when piled up on the floor of the cell, did not reach above
halfway to the given mark. The Inca then despatched messengers to Cuzco
to obtain from the royal treasury the gold required to make up the
deficiency; and accordingly eleven thousand llamas were despatched from
Cuzco to Caxamarca, each laden with one hundred pounds of gold. But ere
the treasure reached its destination, Atahuallpa was hanged by the
advice of Don Diego de Almangra and the Dominican monk Vicente de
Valverde. The terror-stirring news flew like wild-fire through the land,
and speedily reached the convoy of Indians, who were driving their
richly-laden llamas over the level heights into Central Peru. On the
spot where the intelligence of Atahuallpa's death was communicated to
them, the dismayed Indians concealed the treasure, and then dispersed.

Whether the number of the llamas was really so considerable as it is
stated to have been, may fairly be doubted; but that a vast quantity
of gold was on its way to Caxamarca, and was concealed, is a
well-authenticated fact. That the Indians should never have made any
attempt to recover this treasure is quite consistent with their
character. It is not improbable that even now some particular
individuals among them may know the place of concealment; but a
certain feeling of awe transmitted through several centuries from
father to son, has, in their minds, associ