VuAV. V][. DOMINIONS OF THE INCAS. 113 



The circumstance that IManco Ccapac, the first Inca of Peru, 

 origiually appeared in the country of the Aymaras, has led to 

 the belief that he was himself a chief of that nation ; but I am 

 more inclined to the opinion that he was one of a band of ad- 

 venturers who had been brought from Asia, or her vast archi- 

 pelago of islands, by the westerly winds of the South Pacific, 

 and the southerly breezes of the coast, to the port of Arica ; 

 that he thence made his way to the banks of the great lake, 

 where he became indoctrinated in the religion of the jieople ; 

 and that, for some reason, he continued his wanderings, imtil 

 ho finally collected a sufficiently numerous following to found 

 an independent state at Cuzco. It seems certain, from em- 

 blems found carved upon the ruins, and from tradition, that 

 the worship of the Sun and Moon was established amongst 

 the Aymaras for ages before the conquest of their country by 

 the Incas of Cuzco. 



It was not for several generations after the foundation 

 of the empire of the Incas, that their conquests were 

 extended over the Aymara nation of the Collao; and it 

 was not until about the middle of the eleventh century 

 that the country on the shores of lake Titicaca became part 

 of the great empire whose centre and capital was at Cuzco. 

 From that time the islands of Titicaca and Coata, and 

 the peninsula of Copacabana, became the most sacred and 

 venerated spots within the dominions of the Incas ; as the 

 localities where their great progenitor Manco Ccapac was 

 believed to have made his first appearance. 



Copacabana means "the place of a precious stone," copa 

 being a precious stone, and cavana a place where anything 

 is seen.^ K rock called Titicaca gave its name to the 

 island and lake: titi being Aymara for a cat, and caca a 



** The idol of Copacabana was made 

 uf a beautiful blue stone, hence the 

 name. It had an ugly human head, 



and a fish's body, and it was adored as 

 the God of the Lake. 



