Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/43

Rh gave to Oliva a manuscript dictated by Catari. The remarkable statement is here made that no judgment can be formed of the size of the ruined city, because nearly all was built underground. Professor Nestler of Prague has proceeded to Tiahuanacu with the object of making researches by the light of the account of Catari.

The famous monolithic doorway at Tiahuanacu has been fractured, probably by an earthquake. The lower part has not yet been excavated, so that it is not known whether the two sides are connected below or separate. The elaborate carving on the upper part may possibly hold the mystery. In the centre there is a square of seventeen-and-a-half inches, on which the principal figure is carved. The space is nearly square, surrounded by a border with billet ornaments. There are two round indentations for eyes, a nose, mouth, and three small holes on each cheek. The billet ornaments occur again on the sceptres and on the belt. Ornaments issue from the border round the head, consisting of twenty-two ribands ending in heads or circles. In the centre, at the top, there is a human head, on either side two ribands adorned with billets and ending in circles. At the angles there are longer ribands ending with the heads of beasts. These seven bands, including the human head, form the upper part of the rays round the greater head. On the