"They valued the gold greatly because they made it into jewellery to adorn themselves and brought it as offerings to the temples." Agustín de Zarate, 1555 "In all the royal palaces there were gardens and orchards given over to the moments of relaxation of the Inca. Here were planted the finest trees and the most beautiful flowers and sweet-smelling herbs… others were reproduced in gold and silver, at every stage of their growth…". Garcilaso de la Vega el Inca, 1609 As emerges clearly from these accounts, the quantity and beauty of the gold and silver artefacts of the Inca made a great impression on the chroniclers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But they had not had the chance to see the works of the pre-Inca civilisations.