92 



SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS. 



very time they find bodies almost entire^ with 

 their clothes^ and very often gold and silver ves- 

 sels. Those I have seen are dug in the sand 

 the depth of a man^ and inclosed with a wall of 

 dry stone : they are covered with wattles and 

 canes^ on which there is a bed or layer of earth 

 and sand laid over, that the place where they 

 were might not be observed. 



They were so terrified that they thought 

 they must all die, when they were informed that 

 the Spaniards had not spared even their be- 

 loved Atuhalpa, who among them was looked 

 upon as the offspring of the sun, which they 

 worshipped. 



Therefore, to escape out of their hands, they 

 fled as far as as they could westward, to implore 

 the mercy of the sun ; but being stopped by the 

 sea, they buried themselves alive on the edge 

 of it.^^^ 



Poor persecuted Indians ! thus are your suf- 

 ferings made known to us, and thus has the arid 



* Relation du Voyage de la Mer du sud, page 1 60. 



