The record-union., 1891-02-22

posed to preside in particular manner
over the destinies of man by giving light
and warmth to the nation as well as life
TO the vegetable world, besi des being the
lounder OF their empire and the father OF
their royal dynasty-they :llso acknowl-
edged various other objects of worship
as as IN some way connected with the Sun.
There was the Moon, his sister-wife;
the Stars, believed to serve as part OF
her heavenly train-except Venus, fairest
| OF them all, whom they called Chasca,
the youth with curling locks" and
adored as the Suns page, because he at
tends SO closely to the rising and setting
Lightning they recognized the Suns
dread ministers of vengeance; and the
Rainbow they worshiped as his approx
ing smile.
! A hundred objects in nature also served
for inferior gods. The mighty sea, break
| ing with ceaseless thunder upon the
rocky coast, impressed the dweller of the
desert with reverence and awe: while the
elements, the wind, the rain, the earth,
the air, mountains, rivers everything
which impressed them with ideas of sub
llmlty and power, or which exercised
marked influence for the veal or woe of
man, came in for share of worship.
They also adopted notion not unlike
that professed by some of the schools of
ancient philosophy, that everything on
earth had its architype-its mother" as
| they expressed (which must be held sa-
cred. as being in some sort its spiritual
essence. And besides all these, their sys-
tenn embraced the countless deities of all
the conquered nations, whose images were
transferred to Cuzco.
! In the temple consecrated to the Moon
the deity considered second in import
ance as being the mother of the Incas-
| her ef1igy was represented in the same
manner as that of the Sun, on a vast plate
that covered nearly one side of the build
ing. But this plate, and all the other
decorations of her temple, We're of silver
instead of gold, as being better suited 10
! the paler efiulgence of that beautiful
planet. One OF the three other temples
waS dedicated to the host OF stars that
| formed her bright court another to thun-
| der and lightning, and another to the rain
bow. There are several smaller edifices
and insulated apartments inside the tenn
| pie walls for the accommodation of nu-
merous priests who officiated in the yari-
GUS services. All the plates, ornaments
and utensils of every description appro-
| prlated to the uses of religion, were of
solid gold or silver. Twelve immense
vases of the latter metal stood on the
floor OF the great salon, TILED with grains
| OF Indian corn, grown in the temple
gardens and on the sacred islands of Lake
| 1iticaca; and Spanish historian who
saw these vases asserts that leach was as
| high as good lance, and so large that
two men with outspread arms could
! bare encompass them.''
| The.censers of the perfumes, the ewers
which held the water for sacrifices, the
pipes which conducted it through sub
terraneous channels into the buildings,
the reservoirs that receive it, even the
agricultural implements used in the
gardens of the temples where the sacred
corn was cultivated, We're all of silver and
gold. The gardens, like those belonging
TO the royal palaces, sparkled with silver
and gold and various jeweled limitations
of the vegetable kingdom. There were
also statues in gold and silver. mainly
those of animals, among which the llama,
with golden fleece, was conspicuous. All
| this we have on the word of such re-
! nowned historians as Sarmiento, Pedro
| PiZarro Garcilasso, Herrera and others.
| Prescott adds: IF the reader sees in this
fairy picture only the romantic coloring
of some fabulous ,El Dorado, he must re-
call what has been written about the
palaces of the Incas and consider that
| these Houses of the Sum We're the COM
mon reservoirs into which flowed all the
streams of public and private benefaction
| throughout the empire"
Many of these costly articles were
! buried by the natives TO keep them from
the cupidity OF their conquerors; but
enough remained to excite the Spaniard's
| profoundeSt admiration and to stimulate
their greed TO the highest pitch. They
speedily removed everything portable,
and even tore away the golden frieze and
cornices On the very ground once occu-
! pied by the gorgeous Coricancha now
stands the stately church of Saint DOM
inic, one of the handsomest structures in
the three Americas. Fields of corn and
alfalfa now ripen in the temple gardens,
which once glowed with golden statuary;
and where the Children OF the Sun cele-
! brated their religious rites bare-footed
friars chant Ave Marias Inside the
courtyard of the st. Dominic monastery
is still preserved an ancient fountain of
| Inca days, which has been consecrated by
the Romish church for baptismal pur-
poses. 1t stands in the center of an ex-
| tended patio, surrounded by long lines of
arched and columned corridors, one story
above another. 1t is of solid stone, long
oval in shape, rising above ground about
| four feet, and sunk into it six feet or
more.
| Besides the great sun-temple and its
| adJunctS, there We're a large number of
inferior temples and religious edifices
scattered all over CuZco and its environS
to the number of three or four hundred.
An ancient writer says that every path
way, hall or fountain of the sanctified CITY
had its tradition and was regarded as q
holy mystery. Unfortunate, indeed, was
the Indian noble, in whatever remote
corner of the kingdom he resided, who
| could not at some period of his life make
a pilgrimage to the Peruvian Mecca At
"Coricancha' alone the sacerdotal order
| numbered more than four thousand.
There were many other temples and re-
hglouS houses in various parts of Inca
land, some of them constructed on scale
of magniticence that almost rivaled those
of Cuzco; and their attendants composed
vast army. FANNY B. WARD.