The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 11: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.

These consecrated objects were termed huacas, - a word of most
prolific import; since it signified a temple, a tomb, any natural
object remarkable for its size or shape, in short, a cloud of
meanings, which by their contradictory sense have thrown
incalculable confusion over the writings of historians and
travellers.]

[Footnote 12: "La orden por donde fundavan sus huacas que ellos
llamavan a las Idolatrias hera porque decian que todas criava el
sol i que les dava madre por madre que mostravan a la tierra,
porque decian que tenia madre, i tenian le echo su vulto i sus
adoratorios, i al fuego decian que tambien tenia madre i al mais
i a las otras sementeras i a las ovejas iganado decian que tenian
madre, i a la chocha ques el brevaje que ellos usan decian que el
vinagre della hera la madre i lo reverenciavan i llamavan mama
agua madre del vinagre, i a cada cosa adoravan destas de su
manera." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

So it seems to have been regarded by the Licentiate Ondegardo.
"E los Idolos estaban en aq1 galpon grande de la casa del Sol, y
cada Idolo destos tenia su servicio y gastos y mugeres, y en la
casa del Sol le iban a hacer reverencia los que venian de su
provincial para lo qual e sacrificios que se hacian proveian de
su misma tierra ordinaria e muy abundantemente por la misma orden
que lo hacian quando estaba en la misma provincia, que daba gran
autoridad a mi parecer e aun fuerza a estos Ingas que cierto me
causo gran admiracion." Rel. Seg., Ms.]

But the worship of the Sun constituted the peculiar care of the
Incas, and was the object of their lavish expenditure. The most
ancient of the many temples dedicated to this divinity was in the
Island of Titicaca, whence the royal founders of the Peruvian
line were said to have proceeded. From this circumstance, this
sanctuary was held in peculiar veneration. Every thing which
belonged to it, even the broad fields of maize, which surrounded
the temple, and formed part of its domain, imbibed a portion of
its sanctity. The yearly produce was distributed among the
different public magazines, in small quantities to each, as
something that would sanctify the remainder of the store. Happy
was the man who could secure even an ear of the blessed harvest
for his own granary! *14

[Footnote 14: Garcilasso. Com. Real, Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 25.]
But the most renowned of the Peruvian temples the pride of the
capital, and the wonder of the empire, was at Cuzco, where, under
the munificence of successive sovereigns, it had become so
enriched, that it received the name of Coricancha, or "the Place
of Gold." It consisted of a principal building and several
chapels and inferior edifices, covering a large extent of ground
in the heart of the city, and completely encompassed by a wall,
which, with the edifices, was all constructed of stone. The work
was of the kind already described in the other public buildings
of the country, and was so finely executed, that a Spaniard, who
saw it in its glory, assures us, he could call to mind only two
edifices in Spain, which, for their workmanship, were at all to
be compared with it. *15 Yet this substantial, and, in some
respects, magnificent structure, was thatched with straw!

[Footnote 15: "Tenia este Templo en circuito mas de quatro
cientos pasos, todo cercado de una muralla fuerte, labrado todo
el edificio de cantera muy excelente de fina piedra, muy bien
puesta y asentada, y algunas piedras eran muy grandes y
soberbias, no tenian mezcla de tierra ni cal, sino con el betun
que ellos suelen hacer sus edificios, y estan tan bien labradas
estas piedras que no se les parece mezcla ni juntura ninguna. En
toda Espana no he visto cosa que pueda comparar a estas paredes y
postura de piedra, sino a la torre que llaman la Calahorra que
esta junto con la puente de Cordoba, y a una obra que vi en
Toledo, cuando fui a presentar la primera parte de mi Cronica al
Principe Dn Felipe." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24]

The interior of the temple was the most worthy of admiration. It
was literally a mine of gold. On the western wall was emblazoned
a representation of the deity, consisting of a human countenance,
looking forth from amidst innumerable rays of light, which
emanated from it in every direction, in the same manner as the
sun is often personified with us. The figure was engraved on a
massive plate of gold of enormous dimensions, thickly powdered
with emeralds and precious stones. *16 It was so situated in
front of the great eastern portal, that the rays of the morning
sun fell directly upon it at its rising, lighting up the whole
apartment with an effulgence that seemed more than natural, and
which was reflected back from the golden ornaments with which the
walls and ceiling were everywhere incrusted. Gold, in the
figurative language of the people, was "the tears wept by the
sun," *17 and every part of the interior of the temple glowed
with burnished plates and studs of the precious metal. The
cornices, which surrounded the walls of the sanctuary, were of
the same costly material; and a broad belt or frieze of gold, let
into the stonework, encompassed the whole exterior of the
edifice. *18

[Footnote 16: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms - Cieza de Leon, Cronica,
cap. 44, 92.

"La figura del Sol, muy grande, hecha de oro obrada muy
primamente engastonada en muchas piedras ricas." Sarmiento,
Relacion, Ms., cap. 24.]

[Footnote 17: "I al oro asimismo decian que era lagrimas que el
Sol llorava." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 18: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24. - Antig. y
Monumentos del Peru, Ms.

"Cercada junto a la techumbre de una plancha de oro de palmo i
medio de ancho i lo mismo tenian por de dentro en cada bohio o
casa i aposento." (Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.) "Tenia una cinta
de planchas de oro de anchor de mas de un palmo enlazadas en las
piedras." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
Adjoining the principal structure were several chapels of smaller
dimensions. One of them was consecrated to the Moon, the deity
held next in reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her effigy
was delineated in the same manner as that of the Sun, on a vast
plate that nearly covered one side of the apartment. But this
plate, as well as all the decorations of the building, was of
silver, as suited to the pale, silvery light of the beautiful
planet. There were three other chapels, one of which was
dedicated to the host of Stars, who formed the bright court of
the Sister of the Sun; another was consecrated to his dread
ministers of vengeance, the Thunder and the Lightning; and a
third, to the Rainbow, whose many-colored arch spanned the walls
of the edifice with hues almost as radiant as its own. There
were besides several other buildings, or insulated apartments,
for the accommodation of the numerous priests who officiated in
the services of the temple. *19

[Footnote 19: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 21. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq., Ms.]

All the plate, the ornaments, the utensils of every description,
appropriated to the uses of religion, were of gold or silver.
Twelve immense vases of the latter metal stood on the floor of
the great saloon, filled with grain of the Indian corn; *20 the
censers for the perfumes, the ewers which held the water for
sacrifice, the pipes which conducted it through subterraneous
channels into the buildings, the reservoirs that received it,
even the agricultural implements used in the gardens of the
temple, were all of the same rich materials. The gardens, like
those described, belonging to the royal palaces, sparkled with
flowers of gold and silver, and various imitations of the
vegetable kingdom. Animals, also, were to be found there, -
among which the llama, with its golden fleece, was most
conspicuous, - executed in the same style, and with a degree of
skill, which, in this instance, probably, did not surpass the
excellence of the material. *21

[Footnote 20: "El bulto del Sol tenian mui grande de oro, i todo
el servicio desta casa era de plata i oro, i tenian doze horones
de plata blanca que dos hombres no abrazarian cada uno quadrados,
i eran mas altos que una buena pica donde hechavan el maiz que
havian de dar al Sol, segun ellos decian que comiese." Conq. i
Pob. del Piru, Ms.

The original, as the Spanish reader perceives, says each of these
silver vases or bins was as high as a good lance, and so large
that two men with outspread arms could barely encompass them! As
this might, perhaps, embarrass even the most accommodating faith,
I have preferred not to become responsible for any particular
dimensions.]

[Footnote 21: Levinus Apollonius, fol. 38. - Garcilasso, Com.
Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 24. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq., Ms.

"Tenian un Jardin que los Terrones eran pedazos de oro fino y
estaban artificiosamente sembrado de maizales los quales eran oro
asi las Canas de ello como las ojas y mazorcas, y estaban tan
bien plantados que aunque hiciesen recios bientos no se
arrancaban. Sin todo esto tenian hechas mas de veinte obejas de
oro con sus Corderos y los Pastores con sus ondas y cayados que
las guardaban hecho de este metal; havia mucha cantidad de
Tinajas de oro y de Plata y esmeraldas, vasos, ollas y todo
genero de vasijas todo de oro fino; por otras Paredes tenian
esculpidas y pintadas otras mayores cosas, en fin era uno de los
ricos Templos que hubo en el mundo." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms.,
cap. 24.]

If the reader sees in this fairy picture only the romantic
coloring of some fabulous El Dorado, he must recall what has been
said before in reference to the palaces of the Incas, and
consider that these "Houses of the Sun," as they were styled,
were the common reservoir into which flowed all the streams of
public and private benefaction throughout the empire. Some of
the statements, through credulity, and others, in the desire of
exciting admiration, may be greatly exaggerated; but, in the
coincidence of contemporary testimony, it is not easy to
determine the exact line which should mark the measure of our
skepticism. Certain it is, that the glowing picture I have given
is warranted by those who saw these buildings in their pride, or
shortly after they had been despoiled by the cupidity of their
countrymen. Many of the costly articles were buried by the
natives, or thrown into the waters of the rivers and the lakes;
but enough remained to attest the unprecedented opulence of these
religious establishments. Such things as were in their nature
portable were speedily removed, to gratify the craving of the
Conquerors, who even tore away the solid cornices and frieze of
gold from the great temple, filling the vacant places with the
cheaper, but - since it affords no temptation to avarice - more
durable, material of plaster. Yet even thus shorn of their
splendor, the venerable edifices still presented an attraction to
the spoiler, who found in their dilapidated walls an
inexhaustible quarry for the erection of other buildings. On the
very ground once crowned by the gorgeous Coricancha rose the
stately church of St. Dominic, one of the most magnificent
structures of the New World. Fields of maize and lucerne now
bloom on the spot which glowed with the golden gardens of the
temple; and the friar chants his orisons within the consecrated
precincts once occupied by the Children of the Sun. *22

[Footnote 22: Miller's Memoirs, vol. II. pp. 223, 224.]

Besides the great temple of the Sun, there was a large number of
inferior temples and religious houses in the Peruvian capital and
its environs, amounting, as is stated, to three or four hundred.
*23 For Cuzco was a sanctified spot, venerated not only as the
abode of the Incas, but of all those deities who presided over
the motley nations of the empire. It was the city beloved of the
Sun; where his worship was maintained in its splendor; "where
every fountain, pathway, and wall," says an ancient chronicler,
"was regarded as a holy mystery." *24 And unfortunate was the
Indian noble who, at some period or other of his life, had not
made his pilgrimage to the Peruvian Mecca.

[Footnote 23: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 5, lib. 4, cap. 8.
"Havia en aquella ciudad y legua y media de la redonda
quatrocientos y tantos lugares, donde se hacian sacrificious, y
se gastava mucha suma de hacienda en ellos." Ondegardo, Rel.
Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 24: "Que aquella ciudad del Cuzco era casa y morada de
Dioses, e ansi no habia en toda ella fuente ni paso ni pared que
no dixesen que tenia misterio." Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

Other temples and religious dwellings were scattered over the
provinces; and some of them constructed on a scale of
magnificence, that almost rivalled that of the metropolis. The
attendants on these composed an army of themselves. The whole
number of functionaries, including those of the sacerdotal order,
who officiated at the Coricancha alone, was no less than four
thousand. *25

[Footnote 25: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.

An army, indeed, if, as Cieza de Leon states, the number of
priests and menials employed in the famous temple of Bilcas, on
the route to Chili, amounted to 40,000! (Cronica, cap. 89.)
Every thing relating to these Houses of the Sun appears to have
been on a grand scale. But we may easily believe this a clerical
error for 4,000.]

At the head of all, both here and throughout the land, stood the
great High-Priest, or Villac Vmu, as he was called. He was
second only to the Inca in dignity, and was usually chosen from
his brothers or nearest kindred. He was appointed by the
monarch, and held his office for life; and he, in turn, appointed
to all the subordinate stations of his own order. This order was
very numerous. Those members of it who officiated in the House
of the Sun, in Cuzco, were taken exclusively from the sacred race
of the Incas. The ministers in the provincial temples were drawn
from the families of the curacas; but the office of high-priest
in each district was reserved for one of the blood royal. It was
designed by this regulation to preserve the faith in its purity,
and to guard against any departure from the stately ceremonial
which it punctiliously prescribed. *26

[Footnote 26: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 27. - Conq i Pob.
del Piru, Ms.

It was only while the priests were engaged in the service of the
temples, that they were maintained, according to Garcilasso, from
the estates of the Sun. At other times, they were to get their
support from their own lands, which, if he is correct, were
assigned to them in the same manner as to the other orders of the
nation. Com Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 8]

The sacerdotal order, though numerous, was not distinguished by
any peculiar badge or costume from the rest of the nation.
Neither was it the sole depository of the scanty science of the
country, nor was it charged with the business of instruction, nor
with those parochial duties, if they may so be called, which
bring the priest in contact with the great body of the people, -
as was the case in Mexico. The cause of this peculiarity may
probably be traced to the existence of a superior order, like
that of the Inca nobles, whose sanctity of birth so far
transcended all human appointments, that they in a manner
engrossed whatever there was of religious veneration in the
people. They were, in fact, the holy order of the state.
Doubtless, any of them might, as very many of them did, take on
themselves the sacerdotal functions; and their own insignia and
peculiar privileges were too well understood to require any
further badge to separate them from the people.
The duties of the priest were confined to ministration in the
temple. Even here his attendance was not constant, as he was
relieved after a stated interval by other brethren of his order,
who succeeded one another in regular rotation. His science was
limited to an acquaintance with the fasts and festivals of his
religion, and the appropriate ceremonies which distinguished
them. This, however frivolous might be its character, was no
easy acquisition; for the ritual of the Incas involved a routine
of observances, as complex and elaborate as ever distinguished
that of any nation, whether pagan or Christian. Each month had
its appropriate festival, or rather festivals. The four
principal had reference to the Sun, and commemorated the great
periods of his annual progress, the solstices and equinoxes.
Perhaps the most magnificent of all the national solemnities was
the feast of Raymi, held at the period of the summer solstice,
when the Sun, having touched the southern extremity of his
course, retraced his path, as if to gladden the hearts of his
chosen people by his presence. On this occasion, the Indian
nobles from the different quarters of the country thronged to the
capital to take part in the great religious celebration.

For three days previous, there was a general fast, and no fire
was allowed to be lighted in the dwellings. When the appointed
day arrived, the Inca and his court, followed by the whole
population of the city, assembled at early dawn in the great
square to greet the rising of the Sun. They were dressed in
their gayest apparel, and the Indian lords vied with each other
in the display of costly ornaments and jewels on their persons,
while canopies of gaudy feather-work and richly tinted stuffs,
borne by the attendants over their heads, gave to the great
square, and the streets that emptied into it, the appearance of
being spread over with one vast and magnificent awning. Eagerly
they watched the coming of their deity, and, no sooner did his
first yellow rays strike the turrets and loftiest buildings of
the capital, than a shout of gratulation broke forth from the
assembled multitude, accompanied by songs of triumph, and the
wild melody of barbaric instruments, that swelled louder and
louder as his bright orb, rising above the mountain range towards
the east, shone in full splendor on his votaries. After the usual
ceremonies of adoration, a libation was offered to the great
deity by the Inca, from a huge golden vase, filled with the
fermented liquor of maize or of maguey, which, after the monarch
had tasted it himself, he dispensed among his royal kindred.
These ceremonies completed, the vast assembly was arranged in
order of procession, and took its way towards the Coricancha. *27

[Footnote 27: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion,
Ms., cap. 27.

The reader will find a brilliant, and not very extravagant,
account of the Peruvian festivals in Marmontel's romance of Les
Incas. The French author saw in their gorgeous ceremonial a
fitting introduction to his own literary pageant Tom. I. chap. 1
- 4.]

As they entered the street of the sacred edifice, all divested
themselves of their sandals, except the Inca and his family, who
did the same on passing through the portals of the temple, where
none but these august personages were admitted. *28 After a
decent time spent in devotion, the sovereign, attended by his
courtly train, again appeared, and preparations were made to
commence the sacrifice. This, with the Peruvians, consisted of
animals, grain, flowers, and sweet-scented gums; sometimes of
human beings, on which occasions a child or beautiful maiden was
usually selected as the victim. But such sacrifices were rare,
being reserved to celebrate some great public event, as a
coronation, the birth of a royal heir, or a great victory. They
were never followed by those cannibal repasts familiar to the
Mexicans, and to many of the fierce tribes conquered by the
Incas. Indeed, the conquests of these princes might well be
deemed a blessing to the Indian nations, if it were only from
their suppression of cannibalism, and the diminution, under their
rule, of human sacrifices. *29

[Footnote 28: "Ningun Indio comun osaba pasar por la calle del
Sol calzado; ni ninguno, aunque fuese mui grand Senor, entrava en
las casas del Sol con zapatos." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 29: Garcilasso de la Vega flatly denies that the Incas
were guilty of human sacrifices; and maintains, on the other
hand, that they uniformly abolished them in every country they
subdued, where they had previously existed. (Com. Real., Parte
1, lib. 2, cap. 9, et alibi.) But in this material fact he is
unequivocally contradicted by Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 22,
- Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms., - Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms.,
lib. 2, cap. 8, - Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 5, 8, - Cieza de
Leon, Cronica, cap. 72, - Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms., - Acosta,
lib. 5, cap. 19, - and I might add, I suspect, were I to pursue
the inquiry, by nearly every ancient writer of authority; some of
whom, having come into the country soon after the Conquest, while
its primitive institutions were in vigor, are entitled to more
deference in a matter of this kind than Garcilasso himself. It
was natural that the descendant of the Incas should desire to
relieve his race from so odious an imputation; and we must have
charity for him, if he does show himself, on some occasions,
where the honor of his country is at stake, "high gravel blind."
It should be added, in justice to the Peruvian government, that
the best authorities concur in the admission, that the sacrifices
were few, both in number and in magnitude, being reserved for
such extraordinary occasions as those mentioned in the text.]

At the feast of Raymi, the sacrifice usually offered was that of
the llama; and the priest, after opening the body of his victim,
sought in the appearances which it exhibited to read the lesson
of the mysterious future. If the auguries were unpropitious, a
second victim was slaughtered, in the hope of receiving some more
comfortable assurance. The Peruvian augur might have learned a
good lesson of the Roman, - to consider every omen as favorable,
which served the interests of his country. *30

[Footnote 30: "Augurque cum esset, dicere ausus est, optimis
auspiciis ea geri, quae pro reipublicae salute gererentur."
Cicero, De Senectute.

This inspection of the entrails of animals for the purposes of
divination is worthy of note, as a most rare, if not a solitary,
instance of the kind among the nations of the New World, though
so familiar in the ceremonial of sacrifice among the pagan
nations of the Old.]

A fire was then kindled by means of a concave mirror of polished
metal, which, collecting the rays of the sun into a focus upon a
quantity of dried cotton, speedily set it on fire. It was the
expedient used on the like occasions in ancient Rome, at least
under the reign of the pious Numa. When the sky was overcast,
and the face of the good deity was hidden from his worshippers,
which was esteemed a bad omen, fire was obtained by means of
friction. The sacred flame was intrusted to the care of the
Virgins of the Sun, and if, by any neglect, it was suffered to go
out in the course of the year, the event was regarded as a
calamity that boded some strange disaster to the monarchy. *31 A
burnt offering of the victims was then made on the altars of the
deity. This sacrifice was but the prelude to the slaughter of a
great number of llamas, part of the flocks of the Sun, which
furnished a banquet not only for the Inca and his Court, but for
the people, who made amends at these festivals for the frugal
fare to which they were usually condemned. A fine bread or cake,
kneaded of maize flour by the fair hands of the Virgins of the
Sun, was also placed on the royal board, where the Inca,
presiding over the feast, pledged his great nobles in generous
goblets of the fermented liquor of the country, and the long
revelry of the day was closed at night by music and dancing.
Dancing and drinking were the favorite pastimes of the Peruvians.
These amusements continued for several days, though the
sacrifices terminated on the first. - Such was the great festival
of Raymi; and the recurrence of this and similar festivities gave
relief to the monotonous routine of toil prescribed to the lower
orders of the community. *32

[Footnote 31: "Vigilemque sacraverat ignem, Excubias divum
aeternas."

Plutarch, in his life of Numa, describes the reflectors used by
the Romans for kindling the sacred fire, as concave instruments
of brass, though not spherical like the Peruvian, but of a
triangular form.]

[Footnote 32: Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 28, 29. - Garcilasso, Com.
Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 23.]

In the distribution of bread and wine at this high festival, the
orthodox Spaniards, who first came into the country, saw a
striking resemblance to the Christian communion; *33 as in the
practice of confession and penance, which, in a most irregular
form, indeed, seems to have been used by the Peruvians, they
discerned a coincidence with another of the sacraments of the
Church. *34 The good fathers were fond of tracing such
coincidences, which they considered as the contrivance of Satan,
who thus endeavoured to delude his victims by counterfeiting the
blessed rites of Christianity. *35 Others, in a different vein,
imagined that they saw in such analogies the evidence, that some
of the primitive teachers of the Gospel, perhaps an apostle
himself, had paid a visit to these distant regions, and scattered
over them the seeds of religious truth. *36 But it seems hardly
necessary to invoke the Prince of Darkness, or the intervention
of the blessed saints, to account for coincidences which have
existed in countries far removed from the light of Christianity
and in ages, indeed, when its light had not yet risen on the
world. It is much more reasonable to refer such casual points of
resemblance to the general constitution of man, and the
necessities of his moral nature. *37