256 



INDIAN AND OTHEE 



sented, but likewise in the idols ; Apuinil^ the sun, the father 

 and lord ; Churl Inti, the son of the sun; link Vauqui^ the 

 brother of the sun ; and Tarlgatanga^ ; all of which received 

 the highest homage and adoration. 



Virgins, to wdiom they gave the name of Acllacunas, were 

 dedicated to his service, and lived perpetually in the cloisters 

 of his temple -j-, to watch over his altars ; — a prerogative 

 which rendered them highly venerable, insomuch that an af- 

 front offered to them was deemed a sacrilege. The Ynca, 

 and the Cucipatas, or priests of the sun, alone were allowed 

 to approach the altars of this divinity, but not without giving 

 tokens of the greatest respe6t, by their genuflections and si- 

 lence. It was thus that they presented themselves during the 

 raymi, one of their most solemn festivals, celebrated with 

 dances and songs in the month of December. 



The monarchs of this empire, zealous in the worship of 

 their father, followed, in their conquests, maxims very diffe- 

 rent from those of ancient Rome. That republic, when at 

 the summit of its power, had no sooner received its tri- 

 umphant generals, crowned with martial laurels, than it 

 placed in the Capitol the gods of the vanquished countries, to 

 the end that they might partake of the vidlims it offered up to 

 its deities. But the former, at the same time that they ex- 



* One in three, and three in one. Several authors, by whom we are told that 

 the apostle St. Thomas came to these regions, say that he resided at Cuzco, where 

 he preached the gospel, and taught the great and incomprehensible mystery of the 

 Trinity ; bat that, in the progress of time, and through the extreme ignorance of 

 the Indians, this tradition was changed, and superstitiously accommodated, by the 

 Yncas, to the sun. 



t They remained there until they were married. 



tended 



