and keys on our doors they understood that it was from fear of thieves and when they saw that we had thieves amongst us they despised us.’
The practice of placing only a little stick across the door was made possible in part by the fact that among the Incas private property of individuals was limited to a few personal possessions, dishes, shawl-pins, cooking utensils, and clothing. Under a benevolent despotism like that of the Incas where no one was allowed to go hungry or naked, where everyone was told what to do and when to do it, and where everything of importance belonged to the ruler, there was no object in attempting to acquire the personal possessions of others, nor was there any incentive to accumulate anything which was not in daily use.
The use of bar-locks, eye-bonders, and roof-pegs by the Incas is evidence of inventive genius which testifies to long occupancy in the highlands. Those devices are not found in Asia or Europe. They were not borrowed or imported. They were autochthonous.
So far as we know there was no furniture in the houses of the Incas. They used neither chairs nor tables but sat on the ground or on a pile of blankets made from the wool of the llama or alpaca. The place of furniture was taken by a series of niches arranged symmetrically in the walls. These niches were usually about 3 feet in height, 10 inches in depth, and 2 feet in width, narrower at the top than at the bottom, and placed in the wall so as to be nearer the floor than the ceiling. They may have been designed originally for ceremonial purposes but they came eventually to be recognized as a great household convenience. Crudely made niches can be seen to-day in the huts of the mountain Indians, where they take the place of shelves, cupboards, and bureaux. Stone pegs were usually placed between the niches and on a level with the lintels. They made handy hooks for all sorts of purposes. It is quite possible that from them were hung the characteristic water or
chicha
(beer) jars which had pointed bottoms. Their handles are so placed in the line of the centre of gravity as to make it easy to suspend them and, by using a nubbin on the shoulder of the jar, to pour out a drink without having to take the jar down from the peg.
The pegs were also convenient for fastening one end of a hand loom, while the weaver sat on the ground with the other end ofthe loom tied to his or her waist. Sometimes a ring stone was bonded in the wall at a convenient height. Since the Peruvians were famous weavers, making warm clothing and blankets of both wool and cotton, these ring stones and pegs were undoubtedly in frequent use for that purpose.
Probable method of using the eye-bonders and roof-pegs found in the gable ends of Inca houses
.
Drawing to show how the city gate might have been fastened to the bar-holds and the eye-bonder
.
Inca architects were careful about drainage and guarded against the accumulation of ground water wherever it was not wanted. Small channels or conduits were constructed under their storehouses and under the walls of courtyards wherever pools were likely to collect.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
In the making of roads, bridges, aqueducts, and irrigation ditches they showed a remarkable knowledge of engineering. At the time of the Spanish Conquest the Incas’ paved roads ran for thousands of miles through the Central Andes, from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, all the way to Argentina and Chile, as well as from the Pacific Coast over the mountains to the warm valleys of the eastern Andes. Since they had no wheeled vehicles it was not necessary for the surface of their roads to be levelled. Where the road had to be taken over a steep hillside, stone stairways were constructed. Where the road had to pass a small precipice, tunnels large enough to permit the passage of a loaded beast of burden, whether man or llama, were cut out of the solid rock.
Over these roads trained runners, operating in relays, carried messages with extraordinary
The practice of placing only a little stick across the door was made possible in part by the fact that among the Incas private property of individuals was limited to a few personal possessions, dishes, shawl-pins, cooking utensils, and clothing. Under a benevolent despotism like that of the Incas where no one was allowed to go hungry or naked, where everyone was told what to do and when to do it, and where everything of importance belonged to the ruler, there was no object in attempting to acquire the personal possessions of others, nor was there any incentive to accumulate anything which was not in daily use.
The use of bar-locks, eye-bonders, and roof-pegs by the Incas is evidence of inventive genius which testifies to long occupancy in the highlands. Those devices are not found in Asia or Europe. They were not borrowed or imported. They were autochthonous.
So far as we know there was no furniture in the houses of the Incas. They used neither chairs nor tables but sat on the ground or on a pile of blankets made from the wool of the llama or alpaca. The place of furniture was taken by a series of niches arranged symmetrically in the walls. These niches were usually about 3 feet in height, 10 inches in depth, and 2 feet in width, narrower at the top than at the bottom, and placed in the wall so as to be nearer the floor than the ceiling. They may have been designed originally for ceremonial purposes but they came eventually to be recognized as a great household convenience. Crudely made niches can be seen to-day in the huts of the mountain Indians, where they take the place of shelves, cupboards, and bureaux. Stone pegs were usually placed between the niches and on a level with the lintels. They made handy hooks for all sorts of purposes. It is quite possible that from them were hung the characteristic water or
chicha
(beer) jars which had pointed bottoms. Their handles are so placed in the line of the centre of gravity as to make it easy to suspend them and, by using a nubbin on the shoulder of the jar, to pour out a drink without having to take the jar down from the peg.
The pegs were also convenient for fastening one end of a hand loom, while the weaver sat on the ground with the other end ofthe loom tied to his or her waist. Sometimes a ring stone was bonded in the wall at a convenient height. Since the Peruvians were famous weavers, making warm clothing and blankets of both wool and cotton, these ring stones and pegs were undoubtedly in frequent use for that purpose.
Probable method of using the eye-bonders and roof-pegs found in the gable ends of Inca houses
.
Drawing to show how the city gate might have been fastened to the bar-holds and the eye-bonder
.
Inca architects were careful about drainage and guarded against the accumulation of ground water wherever it was not wanted. Small channels or conduits were constructed under their storehouses and under the walls of courtyards wherever pools were likely to collect.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
In the making of roads, bridges, aqueducts, and irrigation ditches they showed a remarkable knowledge of engineering. At the time of the Spanish Conquest the Incas’ paved roads ran for thousands of miles through the Central Andes, from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, all the way to Argentina and Chile, as well as from the Pacific Coast over the mountains to the warm valleys of the eastern Andes. Since they had no wheeled vehicles it was not necessary for the surface of their roads to be levelled. Where the road had to be taken over a steep hillside, stone stairways were constructed. Where the road had to pass a small precipice, tunnels large enough to permit the passage of a loaded beast of burden, whether man or llama, were cut out of the solid rock.
Over these roads trained runners, operating in relays, carried messages with extraordinary
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