THE INC A PERUVIANS. 123 



The great mass of people was indolent from two causes, the enervating 

 warmth of the climate, and the humiliating nature of their political institutions, 

 of which we have already spoken. 



The apathy of the common people rendered them filthy and negligent in 

 their persons ; and in my examinations of several mummies of this class, taken 

 from old cemeteries near the coast, I have noticed the hair in many instances 

 to be charged with desiccated vermin, which, though buried for centuries in the 

 sand, could not possibly be mistaken for any thing else. 



The religious system of the Peruvians was marked by a great simplicity, and 

 was divested, as we have observed, of those bloody rites which were common with 

 the Aztecs of Mexico. They believed in one God, whom they called Viracocha, 

 in the immortality of the soul, and in rewards and punishments in the next life. 

 They worshipped both the sun and moon, in whose honor they erected temples 

 and formed idols. Even the stars received their share of homage, because, as it 

 has been happily expressed, they were esteemed the servants and handmaids of 

 the greater luminaries. To these they sacrificed both beasts and birds, but never 

 human beings.* 



But one of the most remarkable features of the Peruvian religion was, the 

 consecration of virgins, in the same manner as practised in modern convents. 



Each temple was provided with a body of these recluses dedicated to the 

 Sun, whose ojffice was not to assist in religious exercises, but to weave certain 

 fabrics for the use of the royal family. The Peruvians, moreover, enjoined vocal 

 confession on all classes of people, and there were specified penalties for all crimes. 

 To conceal any thing in these confessions was in itself held criminaLf 



We are forcibly struck with the superstitious and barbarous funeral rites of 

 these people. When their chief men died they mourned them many days, and 

 buried them with great solemnity. In the grave or tomb they deposited the most 

 valuable possessions of the deceased, his weapons, utensils, meats and drinks ; and 

 with these were also buried a number of human victims, women, boys and servants, 

 to attend on the departed in the next world. Besides these sacrifices, which 

 custom rendered compulsory on certain individuals, others committed suicide for 



* Acosta charges the Peruvians with sacrificing their own children, which is denied by Garcilaso, 

 and has, in fact, no proof. On the contrary, the Inca Roca, having conquered the ferocious tribe 

 called Canches, forbid them, under pain of death, to sacrifice their children.—CARLi, Lettres Ameri- 

 caines, I, p. 115. 



t Herrera, Dec. Ill, Lib, x, Cap. 2. 



