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Authors: Hiram Bingham
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and soil conservation, by means of terraces constructed at great expense. Most of the agricultural fields in the Peruvian Andes are not natural. The soil has been assembled, put in place artificially, and remains fertile after centuries of use.
The Incas learned the importance of fertilizers to keep the soil rich and fruitful. They had discovered the value of the guano found on the bird-islands that lie off the coast of Peru, setting aside various of these islands for the benefit of different provinces. No one was allowed to visit the islands during the breeding season. Although hundreds of thousands of fish-eating birds inhabit the islands, the Incas punished by death anyone killing a single guano-producing bird.
They depended on terrace agriculture. It is seen in its mostconspicuous form on steep slopes. Terraces are found in many other countries, notably in east Asia and the Philippines, but it is very doubtful whether any equal those constructed by the Incas. In Peru the artificial reconstruction of the surface soil was not limited to slopes, but was also undertaken in large areas of reclaimed land in valley bottoms. They even narrowed and straightened the course of the rivers, filled in the land behind strong walls and topped off the work with a surface layer of fine soil.
The system of terrace agriculture which they developed consists roughly of three parts, the retaining wall and two distinct layers of earth that fill the space behind the wall. The underlying stratum, an artificial sub-soil, is composed of coarse stones and clay to a thickness that depends upon the height of the retaining wall. This stratum was covered by a layer of rich soil 2 or 3 feet deep.
Fortunately for the Incas the soils in the terraced districts are tenacious and not readily eroded. A few sods or a small ridge of earth will hold in check a stream of water, thus greatly facilitating the irrigation of the terraces. In places, large stones deeply grooved lengthwise served as spouts to carry the water out from a terrace wall, thus avoiding the danger of erosion or undermining.
The height and width of the terraces depended entirely on the gradient of the slope. Terraces on very steep slopes were narrow shelves, sometimes only 3 or 4 feet wide, although the usual range is from 6 to 15 feet. The height is usually from 8 to 14 feet. In parts of the Andes, hillsides containing 100 terraces, one above the other, are not uncommon. In many places they are used by the modern Indians for raising crops of wheat and barley. Originally they were used chiefly for potatoes and maize.
Long banks of terraces are interrupted at regular intervals by passageways that serve the double purpose of roads for reaching the terraces, and drainage channels to permit surface water from the upper slopes to flow freely down without washing away any of the precious soil which had been brought to the terraces in baskets or mats carried on men’s backs. It fairly staggersthe imagination to realize how many millions of hours of labour were required to construct these great agricultural terraces. Since terraced agriculture is well known in the Philippines and in Asia, some writers are inclined to maintain that the Incas did not originate it but brought it with them when they migrated from Asia, if and when they did. If they came from Asia it is strange that they did not bring any Asiatic food plants or seeds with them.
Mr O. F. Cook, the distinguished authority on tropical agriculture who was the botanist on one of my Peruvian expeditions, tells me that the Incas and their predecessors domesticated more kinds of food and medicinal plants than any other people in the world.
They found a small plant growing in the high Andes, with a tuberous root about the size of a small pea. It proved to be edible and from it, in the course of the centuries, they finally developed a dozen varieties of what we call the ‘Irish’ or white potato, suitable for cultivation at elevations
The Incas learned the importance of fertilizers to keep the soil rich and fruitful. They had discovered the value of the guano found on the bird-islands that lie off the coast of Peru, setting aside various of these islands for the benefit of different provinces. No one was allowed to visit the islands during the breeding season. Although hundreds of thousands of fish-eating birds inhabit the islands, the Incas punished by death anyone killing a single guano-producing bird.
They depended on terrace agriculture. It is seen in its mostconspicuous form on steep slopes. Terraces are found in many other countries, notably in east Asia and the Philippines, but it is very doubtful whether any equal those constructed by the Incas. In Peru the artificial reconstruction of the surface soil was not limited to slopes, but was also undertaken in large areas of reclaimed land in valley bottoms. They even narrowed and straightened the course of the rivers, filled in the land behind strong walls and topped off the work with a surface layer of fine soil.
The system of terrace agriculture which they developed consists roughly of three parts, the retaining wall and two distinct layers of earth that fill the space behind the wall. The underlying stratum, an artificial sub-soil, is composed of coarse stones and clay to a thickness that depends upon the height of the retaining wall. This stratum was covered by a layer of rich soil 2 or 3 feet deep.
Fortunately for the Incas the soils in the terraced districts are tenacious and not readily eroded. A few sods or a small ridge of earth will hold in check a stream of water, thus greatly facilitating the irrigation of the terraces. In places, large stones deeply grooved lengthwise served as spouts to carry the water out from a terrace wall, thus avoiding the danger of erosion or undermining.
The height and width of the terraces depended entirely on the gradient of the slope. Terraces on very steep slopes were narrow shelves, sometimes only 3 or 4 feet wide, although the usual range is from 6 to 15 feet. The height is usually from 8 to 14 feet. In parts of the Andes, hillsides containing 100 terraces, one above the other, are not uncommon. In many places they are used by the modern Indians for raising crops of wheat and barley. Originally they were used chiefly for potatoes and maize.
Long banks of terraces are interrupted at regular intervals by passageways that serve the double purpose of roads for reaching the terraces, and drainage channels to permit surface water from the upper slopes to flow freely down without washing away any of the precious soil which had been brought to the terraces in baskets or mats carried on men’s backs. It fairly staggersthe imagination to realize how many millions of hours of labour were required to construct these great agricultural terraces. Since terraced agriculture is well known in the Philippines and in Asia, some writers are inclined to maintain that the Incas did not originate it but brought it with them when they migrated from Asia, if and when they did. If they came from Asia it is strange that they did not bring any Asiatic food plants or seeds with them.
Mr O. F. Cook, the distinguished authority on tropical agriculture who was the botanist on one of my Peruvian expeditions, tells me that the Incas and their predecessors domesticated more kinds of food and medicinal plants than any other people in the world.
They found a small plant growing in the high Andes, with a tuberous root about the size of a small pea. It proved to be edible and from it, in the course of the centuries, they finally developed a dozen varieties of what we call the ‘Irish’ or white potato, suitable for cultivation at elevations
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