INDIAN CORN. 27 



digious size. In the Province of Puerto Viejo, they 

 had a high veneration for the emerald ; and near the 

 Cordillera, they worshipped that mountain for its stu- 

 pendous height. 



The sacrifices which they made to these deities were 

 often as barbarous as the gods were senseless ; for, 

 besides beasts, fruits, and corn, they sacrificed and 

 devoured ajive, men and women of all ages, whom they 

 had taken in war. But other Indians less cruel, and 

 more mild in their character, though they mingled blood 

 with these rites, never took away life, but drew it from 

 the veins of an arm, a leg, or the nostrils, according to 

 the nature or solemnity of the sacrifice required. 

 Others offered sheep and lambs, conies, partridges, and 

 various kinds of fowl, herbs, fruits, and maize, so much 

 esteemed among them, according to the deity they 

 adored. 



These people, living and dying in the mariner above 

 described, were at length reclaimed by Inca Manco 

 Capac, who, probably, was some Indian N of a more 

 elevated understanding and prudence than ordinary, 

 and who, by carrying a refined manner of deportment 

 toward them, had persuaded them that he and his wife, 

 Mama Oello Hauco, proceeded from the sun, and were 

 come from heaven ; and that his Father, Pachacamac 

 (the Soul of the universe, or the Sustainer of all things) , 

 had sent them to instruct and bestow benefits upon the 

 rest of mankind. Manco Capac was the founder of the 

 Incas, who were the native kings of Peru, and who, 

 according to tradition, reigned in a direct lineage, until 

 they were conquered by the Spaniards, for the space of 

 four Irundred years. The origin of these kings, the 

 majesty and greatness of their empire, their conquests 

 and policies in government, both in peace and in war, 

 together with the laws they instituted for the good and 

 benefit of their subjects, have been recorded by one of 

 their own descendants on the maternal side, Garcilasso 

 de la Vega, surnamed the Inca. Concerning the origin 

 of these kings, he says, tha/, when he was about seven- 

 teen years of age, being one day present with his 



