108 



high priest of Sogamozo, or Iraca, seeing the 

 chiefs of the different Indian tribes disputing for 

 the supreme authority, advised them to choose for 

 zaque,, or sovereign, one among them called Hun- 

 cahua, revered on account of his wisdom and 

 justice. The advice of the high priest was uni- 

 versally adopted : and Huncahua, who reigned 

 two hundred and fifty years, subdued the whole 

 of the country that extends from the savannahs 

 of San Juan de los Llanos to the mountains of 

 Opon. Bochica, devoting himself to a life of se- 

 vere penance, lived a hundred Muysca cycles, or 

 two thousand years. He disappeared mysteri- 

 ously at Iraca, to the east of Tunja. This town, 

 which was then the most populous in the country, 

 was founded by Huncahua, the first of the dy- 

 nasty of the zaques of Cundinamurca ; and took 

 the name of Hunca, from its founder, which the 

 Spaniards afterward changed into that of Tunca, 

 or Tunja. 



The form of government given by Bochica to 

 the inhabitants of Bogota is very remarkable 

 from its analogy with those of Japan and Thibet. 

 The Incas of Peru united in their person the tem- 

 poral and spiritual powers. The children of the 

 Sun were both priests and kings. At Cundina- 

 murca, at a period probably anterior to Man- 

 co-Capac, Bochica had constituted the four 

 chiefs of tribes, Gameza, Busbanca, Pesca, 

 and Toca, electors ; and ordered, that, after his 



