In This Northern Part Of Chile, Within The Cordillera, Old
Indian Houses Are Said To Be Especially Numerous:
By digging
amongst the ruins, bits of woollen articles, instruments of
precious metals, and heads of Indian corn, are not unfrequently
discovered:
An arrow-head made of agate, and of
precisely the same form with those now used in Tierra del
Fuego, was given me. I am aware that the Peruvian Indians
now frequently inhabit most lofty and bleak situations; but
at Copiapo I was assured by men who had spent their lives in
travelling through the Andes, that there were very many
(muchisimas) buildings at heights so great as almost to border
upon the perpetual snow, and in parts where there exist
no passes, and where the land produces absolutely nothing,
and what is still more extraordinary, where there is no water.
Nevertheless it is the opinion of the people of the country
(although they are much puzzled by the circumstance), that,
from the appearance of the houses, the Indians must have
used them as places of residence. In this valley, at Punta
Gorda, the remains consisted of seven or eight square little
rooms, which were of a similar form with those at Tambillos,
but built chiefly of mud, which the present inhabitants cannot,
either here or, according to Ulloa, in Peru, imitate in
durability. They were situated in the most conspicuous and
defenceless position, at the bottom of the flat broad valley.
There was no water nearer than three or four leagues, and
that only in very small quantity, and bad:
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