170 SOUTH AMEKICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



the Chibchas." Like another Atlas, Chibchacum bore the globe on his shoulders, 

 and when he changed position to ease the burden the earth quaked. 



At the time of the Conquest the territory was divided into numerous distinct 

 states — Cimdinamarca proper, that is, the country between the Rios Fusagasuga 

 and Sogamoso, forming a northern and a southern kingdom, with respective 

 capitals — Muequeta (Funza), and Hunsa, the present Tunja. A separate district, 

 Iraca, was also set apart for the high priest. The zipa and the zaque (kings of the 

 south and north) were at war when the Spaniards arrived, and soon after Hunsa 

 was captured by the more powerful zipa. 



Both were absolute rulers, though not by mere hereditary right. The future 

 heir was chosen amongst the sons of the reigning prince's sisters, and carefully 

 brought up in a temple, where he was allowed neither to see the sun nor to taste 

 salt. The king had but one consort, but over 2,000 concubines, and when he issued 

 from his palace to visit the temple, distant only "three shots of an arquebuse," 

 the procession was made with such pomp and majesty that he took three days to 

 cover the ground. 



The deference paid to the zipa resembled that of the slavish subjects of Eastern 

 despots. No one dared look him in the face. When addressed, the speaker's 

 back was turned towards him, and the bearer of presents approached on all fours. 

 The severest sentence of a culprit was to have to face the king, by the rays of 

 whose awful majesty he was struck as by lightning ; henceforth no one spoke to 

 him, and he perished forsaken by all. At the zipa's death all went into mourn- 

 ing, daubing themselves with red ochre. The body, embalmed with a kind of 

 resin, was placed in the stem of a palm which was embellished with plates of gold. 

 The deceased was also decked with gold and emeralds, and was followed to the 

 after-life by a few slaves and devoted women. 



The uzaqttes, or secondary chiefs, also possessed great power over their subjects, 

 and the honouis paid to them were accompanied by analogous ceremonies. Their 

 rank was also transmitted through the sister's line, and at the succession they 

 were covered with gold plates and crowned with plumes. Yet the old matri- 

 archal traditions allowed the spouse to chastise her princely husband, though the 

 stripes were limited to eight, even for crimes for which his subjects would be 

 punished with death. 



The high priest of Iraca, or Sogundomuxo, resided near Suamoz, the present 

 Sogamoso, in a mysterious recess inaccessible to the vulgar. He was chosen, not 

 by inheritance, but by election ; which, however, was limited by custom to two 

 princely families. But the xeques, or ordinary priests, inherited their office 

 through the sister's line in the same way as the royal dignity. During his novi- 

 tiate of twelve years the xeque was committed to the charge of an elderly priest in 

 a cuca, or seminary, where the diet was limited to what was absolutely necessary 

 to keep body and soul together. At critical times of national danger the xeque 

 led a solemn procession of the people before dawn to the top of a lofty mountain, 

 where, turning to the rising sun, he sacrificed a child captured from the enemy. 

 The victim's throat was cut with a sharp reed, and the blood smeared over the 



