*22
[Footnote 21: Miller supposes that it was from these andenes that
the Spaniards gave the name of Andes to the South American
Cordilleras. (Memoirs of Gen. Miller, vol II. p. 219.) But the
name is older than the Conquest, according to Garcilasso, who
traces it to Anti, the name of a province that lay east of Cuzco.
(Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 11.) Anta, the word for
copper, which was found abundant in certain quarters of the
country, may have suggested the name of the province, if not
immediately that of the mountains.]
[Footnote 22: Memoirs of Gen. Miller, ubi supra. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 1.]
In the same spirit of economical husbandry which redeemed the
rocky sierra from the curse of sterility, they dug below the arid
soil of the valleys, and sought for a stratum where some natural
moisture might be found. These excavations, called by the
Spaniards hoyas, or "pits," were made on a great scale,
comprehending frequently more than an acre, sunk to the depth of
fifteen or twenty feet, and fenced round within by a wall of
adobes, or bricks baked in the sun. The bottom of the
excavation, well prepared by a rich manure of the sardines, - a
small fish obtained in vast quantities along the coast, - was
planted with some kind of grain or vegetable. *23
[Footnote 23: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 73.
The remains of these ancient excavations still excite the wonder
of the modern traveller. See Stevenson, Residence in S.
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