Not. Amer., ent. 20.]
[Footnote 27: Ibid., ubi supra.]
The apartments had no communication with one another, but usually
opened into a court; and, as they were unprovided with windows,
or apertures that served for them, the only light from without
must have been admitted by the doorways. These were made with
the sides approaching each other towards the top, so that the
lintel was considerably narrower than the threshold, a
peculiarity, also, in Egyptian architecture. The roofs have for
the most part disappeared with time. Some few survive in the
less ambitious edifices, of a singular bell-shape, and made of a
composition of earth and pebbles. They are supposed, however, to
have been generally formed of more perishable materials, of wood
or straw. It is certain that some of the most considerable
stone-buildings were thatched with straw. Many seem to have been
constructed without the aid of cement; and writers have contended
that the Peruvians were unacquainted with the use of mortar, or
cement of any kind. *28 But a close, tenacious mould, mixed with
lime, may be discovered filling up the interstices of the granite
in some buildings; and in others, where the well-fitted blocks
leave no room for this coarser material, the eye of the antiquary
has detected a fine bituminous glue, as hard as the rock itself.
*29
[Footnote 28: Among others, see Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15. -
Robertson, History of America, (London, 1796,) vol. III. p.
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