30 ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



Huayna Capac. The corpses were so perfect that not a hair of the head or of an eyebrow was 

 wanting. They were in such di-e.sses as they wore when living, without any other marli of royalty 

 than the Llautu on the head. Tlicy were seated after the manner of Indians, with the hands across 

 the breast, and their eyes towards the eartli. They were in such good preservation that they 

 appeared almost as if alive ; but the art by which they were embalmed is lost. I touched one of 

 the fingers of Huayna Capac, and found it as hard as wood. I am of the opinion that the bodies had 

 been dried by exposure to the air in the same manner as meat is prepared, and which, without any 

 other process, has always been used for the provisioning of tiie troops, as it will keep good for any 

 length of time. The bodies were so light that the smallest Indian could carry one ou his shoulder 

 or in his arms, when he was required to do so in order to satisfy the curiosity of a Spanish cavalier 

 They covered them with a white cloth as they passed through the streets, where the people fell on 

 their knees with tears in their eyes. Even the Spaniards took off their hats in consequence of their 

 having borne the title of kings, which gave the Indians extreme delight.'" 



Oil the death of the Incas, and of other eminent persons, a great number of 

 their attendants were put to deatli, and interred around their huaca, that they 

 might appear in the next world with their former dignit)', and be served with the 

 same respect. On the death of Huayna Capac, the most powerful of their 

 monarchs, above a thousand victims were doomed to accompany him to the tomb." 



The Peruvians, according to Garcilasso, buried with the deceased Inca all 

 his vessels of gold and silver, even those for the use of the kitchen ; also his 

 clothes and valuable jewels, with some furniture. The domestics, and women 

 to whom he had been most attached, were buried with him alive by their own 

 desire, and it frequently occurred that so many offered themselves to accompany 

 their deceased masters that their superiors were obliged to limit the number. The 

 first month was devoted to tears ; and the banners, arms, clothes, and all the things 

 that were to be btiried, were exhibited in the different quarters of Cuzco. The 

 lamentations were renewed twice each month, at the full and the change of the 

 moon. Men and women, called weepers, were appointed to chant, in mournful 

 strains, the virtues and heroic acts of the deceased. The mourning was observed 

 throughout the empire.^ 



The Peruvian tombs, according to UUoa, were constituted in the following 

 manner : The Indians having laid the body of the dead upon the ground, 

 erected over it a rude arch of stones or bricks, and covered it witli a tumulus 

 of earth, which they called huaca. In general they are eight or ten toirsies 

 high, and about twenty long, and the breadth is rather less ; but some are larger. 

 They are in shape not precisely pyramidal, but more like hillocks. The plains 

 near Cayambe are covered with them ; one of their principal temples having been 

 there where the kings and Caciques of Quito were buried. 



The tombs accorded in size with the rank of tlie deceased ; with them were 

 buried their furniture and instruments of gold, copper, stone, and clay. Out of 

 one huaca, in the presence of Ulloa, was taken a considerable quantity of gold 

 utensils. In another, in the jurisdiction of Pastos, great riches were found ; some 

 copper axes, small looking-glasses of the Inca-stone, and of Galinazo or black- 



' Book V, Chap. XXIX, Book III, Chap. XX. » Robertson, vol. ii, p. 325. 



' Book VI, Ch. IV and V. 



