133 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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September 2, 1993
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LOSTINCA.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Rick Lawler.
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(INPUT 001)
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In 1927 William Montgomery McGovern, at the time Assistant Curator
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of the South American Ethnology Field Museum of Natural History, and
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a Member of the Board of Oriental Studies of London, wrote a volume
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titled 'JUNGLE PATHS AND INCA RUINS' (The Century Co., New York &
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London). During his many years of travel and study in South America
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he came across some very interesting sites, though perhaps none so
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remarkable as the one described in pp. 437-438 of his volume, the
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ancient fort of Saksawaiman or Saksahuaman:
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"...Cuzco has indeed fallen from it's ancient high estate. No
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longer is it the capital of a vast empire, far vaster than the
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limits of present-day Peru. To-day it numbers only some thirty
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thousand souls, whereas the ancient city had more than TEN TIMES
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that number. Most of the ancient palaces and temples have been
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destroyed by the Spaniards, but the main outlines of the city as it
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was in the days of the Incas can still be traced.
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"On a high hill to the north of the city lie the remains of the
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giant citadel and fortress of Saksawaiman, which dominated the city
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and guarded it against attack. Three huge towers, the military
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residence of the Incas and their soldiers, were destroyed to provide
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building-stones for the Spaniards, the enormous stones of the triple
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ramparts still remain--stones far larger than a man's height and
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weighing many tons. How were they brought there, and so accurately,
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so delicately, put into place?
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"Near the fortress are several strange caverns reaching far
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into the earth. Here alters to the gods of the Deep were carved out
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of the living rock, and the many bones scattered about tell of the
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sacrifices which were offered up. The end of one of these caverns,
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Chincana, has never been found. It is supposed to communicate by a
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long underground passage with the Temple of the Sun, in the heart of
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Cuzco. In this cavern is supposed to be hidden a large part of the
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golden treasure of the Inca emperors, which was stored away lest it
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fall into the hands of the Spaniards. But the cavern is so huge and
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so complicated, and so manifold are its passages, that its secret
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has never been uncovered.
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"One man indeed is said to have found his way underground to
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the Sun Temple and, when he emerged, to have had two golden bars in
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his hand. But his mind had been affected by days of blind wandering
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in the subterranean caves, and he died almost immediately afterward.
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Since that time many have gone into the cavern--never to return
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again. Only a month or two before my arrival the disappearance of
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Page 1
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three prominent people in this Inca cave caused the prefect of the
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province of Cuzco to wall up the mouth of the cavern, so that the
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secret of the treasures of the Incas seem likely to remain
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undiscovered for the present."
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* * *
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(INPUT 002)
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Alexander Von Humboldt, in his volume 'VIEWS OF NATURE' (London,
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Henry G. Bohn, 1850) relates on pp. 412-413 the following account
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which he collected while in Cuzco, Peru:
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"...The son of the Cacique Astorpilca, an interesting and
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amiable youth of seventeen, conducted us over the ruins of the
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ancient palace. Though living in utmost poverty, his imagination
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was filled with images of the subterranean splendour and the golden
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treasures which, he assured us, lay hidden beneath the heaps of
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rubbish over which we were treading. He told us that one of his
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ancestors once blind-folded the eyes of his wife, and then, through
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many intricate passages cut in the rock, led her down into the
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subterranean gardens of the Inca. There the lady beheld, skillfully
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imitated in the purest gold, trees laden with leaves and fruit, with
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birds perched on their branches. Among other things, she saw
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Atahuallpa's gold sedan-chair (UND DE LAS ANDAS) which is alleged to
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have sunk in the basin of the Baths of Pultamarca. The husband
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commanded his wife not to touch any of these enchanted treasures,
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REMINDING HER THAT THE PERIOD FIXED FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE INCA
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EMPIRE HAD NOT YET ARRIVED, and that whosoever should touch any of
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the treasures would perish that same night. (Note: This may or may
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not be the same as the legendary underground 'garden' cavern below
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the 'fort' referred to by some sources, through which is said to
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flow a large underground spring and which can only be entered by
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navigating a confusing labyrinth of underground tunnels. This
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account would also seem to tie-in with various rumors that not only
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the Inca treasures, but many of the Incas themselves escaped the
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Conquistadors through ancient tunnels which led to vast cavern
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cities built in antediluvian times by the lost 'Atlantean' race.
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There are actually people who claim to have met these subterranean
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'Incas'. One such person who alleged to have been descended from
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the Incas themselves, told the former editor of AMAZING STORIES
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magazine Raymond A. Palmer, that he had encountered one of these
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ancient 'cousins' of his who acted as a sentry or guard of a
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entrance to one of the underground abodes. This entrance was in the
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form of a shaft which was situated on the top of a mountain peak
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somewhere in the Matto Grosso region of Brazil - Branton)
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"These golden dreams and fancies of the youth were founded on
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recollections and traditions transmitted from remote times. Golden
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gardens, such as those alluded to (JARDINES O HUERTAS DE ORO), have
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been described by various writers who allege that they actually saw
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them; viz., by Cieza de Leon, Parmento, Garcilaso, and other early
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historians of the Conquista. They are said to have existed beneath
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the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, at Caxamarca, and in the lovely
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valley of Yucay, which was a favorite seat of the sovereign
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family...
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"The son of Astorpilca assured me that underground, a little to
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the right of the spot on which I then stood, there was a large
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Datura tree, or Guanto, in full flower, exquisitely made of gold
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wire and plates of gold, and that its branches overspread the Inca's
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chair. The morbid faith with which the youth asserted his belief in
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this fabulous story, made a profound and melancholy impression on
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me."
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Page 2
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