Destruction of the Tonple of Pacha camac — Sccner//. 391 



their chief god. Somewhat later, when this wild race had 

 been subdued by the Incas, these consecrated the temple in 

 honour of the Sun, flung out the idols of the Yuncas, and 

 designed a number of royal virgins for its service. Pizarro, 

 however, completed the work of destruction, when, with his 

 fanatical followers, he penetrated, in 1534, into the valley of 

 Lurin, hitherto the most populous and peacefully prosperous 

 of the entire Peruvian coast. The villages were laid waste, 

 the temple overthrown, and its virgin priestesses delivered 

 over to the brutal soldiery, and afterwards put to deatli. 



Quite close to the ruins, as they lie scattered along the 

 coast, the island of Pachacamac, or Morosolar, rises from the 

 bottom of the ocean, scarcely accessible owing to its steep, 

 precipitous sides, and on which there is not a single architec- 

 tural memorial of any sort to be found, as erroneously stated, 

 or copied, by several authors. 



From the summit of the hill the visitor finds a surprising 

 landscape, stretching over the beautiful and fertile valley of 

 Lurin ; it is difficult to imagine a more vivid and delightful 

 contrast than is presented by the greyish-brown, sandy, far- 

 extending ruins, and . the soft verdure of the surrounding 

 plain, variegated with the hues of every description of tropi- 

 cal plant. The attention is furtlier arrested by the singu- 

 larity of the abounding vegetation beginning close to the sea, 

 where sugar-cane and grass flourish in the most luxuriant 

 superabundance, while scarcely a half-mile distant the land- 

 scape resumes the barren, sandy features, which extend for 



