*40 The
buildings were low, but covered a wide extent of ground. Some of
the apartments were spacious, but they were generally small, and
had no communication with one another, except that they opened
into a common square or court. The walls were made of blocks of
stone of various sizes, like those described in the fortress of
Cuzco, rough-hewn, but carefully wrought near the line of
junction, which was scarcely visible to the eye. The roofs were
of wood or rushes, which have perished under the rude touch of
time, that has shown more respect for the walls of the edifices.
The whole seems to have been characterized by solidity and
strength, rather than by any attempt at architectural elegance.
*41
[Footnote 40: Velasco has given some account of several of these
palaces situated in different places in the kingdom of Quito.
Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 195 - 197.]
[Footnote 41: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 44. - Antig. y
Monumentos de. Peru, Ms. - See, among others, the description of
the remains still existing of the royal buildings at Callo, about
ten leagues south of Quito, by Ulloa, Voyage to S. America, book
6, ch. 11, and since, more carefully, by Humboldt, Vues des
Cordilleres, p. 197.]
But whatever want of elegance there may have been in the exterior
of the imperial dwellings, it was amply compensated by the
interior, in which all the opulence of the Peruvian princes was
ostentatiously displayed. The sides of the apartments were
thickly studded with gold and silver ornaments.
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