114 



VIRGINS OF THE SUN. 



Chap. VII. 



rock, for on this rock a cat is said to have sat with fire 

 shooting from its eyes.^ In Qiiichua titi means lead. On 

 this rock, which is at the west end of the island of Titicaca,^ 

 there was an altar where the Aymaras adored the Sun, and 

 near it there were three idols joined in one, called Ajni Ynti 

 (the Chief Sun), Chiirip Ynti (the Son's Sun), and Yntip 

 Huauqui (Brother of the Sun). The Inca Tupac Yupanqui 

 (a.d. 1439-75) founded a palace and a village about half 

 a league from the rock, and established a convent of virgins 

 there.^ 



The island of Coata, a league to the eastward of Titicaca, 

 was dedicated to the Moon, the name being derived from 

 Coyata, the accusative of Coya, a queen ; the IMoon ranking 

 as wife to the Sun. The ruins of the Acela Jmasi, or con- 

 vent of virgins, on Coata island, are 120 feet long, the 

 interior being divided into numerous cells, with rows of 

 niches in the walls. They are now overshadowed by quenua- 

 trees, whose dark foliage adds to the sombre melancholy of 

 these silent memorials of the past. On botli the islands 

 there were, in the time of the Incas, large establishments of 

 Virgins of the Sun, who were divided into three grades, 

 according to their beauty. The most lovely were called 

 Guayruro ; the next Yurac Aclla, or white maidens ; and 

 the plain ones Paco Aclla, or beast maidens. Each grade 

 was governed by a Mamacona or nurse, and an Apu-panaca 

 or governor lived near the convent, who guarded it, and 

 supplied its inmates with provisions. The occupations of 

 the virgins were weaving, embroidery, and brewing sacri- 

 ficial cMcJia, to be poured out on the altar of the deity .^ 



" Calancha. 



1 Facing the road on the mainland, 

 between Juli and Pomata. 



2 He nominated Apu Inca Sucso, a 

 grandson of the Inca Viracocha, as Go- 

 vernor ; who was father of Apnchalco 

 Yupanqui, the grandfather of Don 

 Alonzo Viracocha Inca, and his brother 



Don Pablo, who governed the island 

 of Titicaca, under the Spaniards, in 

 A.D. 1G21. 



3 Fray Alonzo Ranias says tliat in 

 1611 an old woman, aged 120 years, 

 died at Viacha, a day's journey from 

 La Paz, who confessed that she had 

 been a Virgin of the Sun. 



